


A good lil detective

by Cloudyjongho



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Police, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Blood, Bottom Choi Jongho, Detective Choi Jongho, Detectives, Gore, Investigations, Killing, M/M, Serial Killer Park Seonghwa, Serial Killers, Smut, This is a serial killer au what did you expect, Top Park Seonghwa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:28:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25914376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudyjongho/pseuds/Cloudyjongho
Summary: "Let's play the cop and the robber, Detective. Or in this case, the cop and the serial killer. Who catches who first?" Seonghwa said with a dangerous glint in his eyes, and lifted his cuffed hands up."These won't hold me for long, Detective."OrJongho is a shining young detective who solves murders and cases with his eyes closed.Seonghwa is the feared serial killer Mars no one knows the identity of. However, one careless mistake of Seonghwa's is enough, and Jongho finds the beginning of the thread, and starts solving the case that can, and will, change his whole life.
Relationships: Choi Jongho/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 100
Kudos: 184





	1. The beginning of the thread

Jongho walked to the crime scene, eyeing the apartment. It was relatively clean compared to another ones Jongho had seen.

The apartment smelled a bit bad already, signifing the obviously dead body. Jongho wished it wasn't a mutilated one.

"Hey, Jongho. You came fast." Youngjo, his colleague, said to him as Jongho walked around the apartment.

"Yeah." 

Youngjo smiled at him, clearly pitying him. 

"I'll leave you to it. Hwanwoong has already pre-examined the body, but they said they'll let you check it too here before sending the body to get the autopsy." Youngjo smiled quickly and patted his shoulder before leaving.

Nice. Sometimes Jongho hated being so good at his job, because they made him see the bodies.

Jongho sighed and took a look at the area around the body. They would go put it in the freezer after Jongho's examination, but until that it would lay there.

There were signs of fighting. Not a lot, but a bit. Kim Wooseok had either fought with someone here, or he had staged the suicide as a murder. Why though, that was the question.

A mirror had been broken and the pieces of it were on the floor. Some of them were bloody. 

There was a lot of blood on the floor. The largest puddle of it was beside Wooseok's body, but there was a trail of it too, coming down the white wall and then to the floor, which meant Wooseok had been pushed against the wall before sliding down to the floor.

"You have taken samples of the blood, right?" Jongho asked the evidence technicians and got agreeing nods. 

"Of all? The blood, those pieces of mirror, the handle of the door?" Jongho asked again, just making sure.

He had a murder to solve. Once again. This was the third murder in three months, and Jongho hadn't been able to solve any of them. 

Every single case was different, but well done. There was nothing that would've given the murderer away. Jongho was beginning to feel hopeless. They had gone around the prisons and jails asking around for possible names, they had even visited legalized mafias to find out. One name had risen higher than others: Mars.

Mars was well known in the industry of criminals. He had a huge following, like a cult, behind him. Everyone knew he had murdered people, even the police did, but they didn't know what he looked like and didn't have any evidence against him. 

Jongho sighed and crouched beside the corpse. The second he casted his eyes on it, he began feeling disgusted.

Wooseok's body was a horrible sight to see. If he was to believe his own eyes, this wasn't a suicide. What kind of human would cut his own body with something so blunt but also so sharp? 

His body was covered in cuts. His eyes were hanging out of their sockets, his stomach was on display and there was a heart drawn around the empty place where Wooseok's heart was supposed to be at.

Jongho gagged, but managed to keep his midnight snack inside his stomach. This couldn't be a suicide, because Wooseok's heart was gone. He couldn't have done that by himself, not before or after cutting off most of the nerves holding his eyes.

"It's disgusting work of art, isn't it?" 

Jongho looked up to find Hwanwoong standing beside him.

"Yeah." Was all Jongho said, closing his mouth quickly to make sure the food stayed in.

"One thing is sure. It wasn't a suicide. As you probably already found out, his heart is completely gone. It's nowhere here, it's not in the already collected evidence. Someone has taken it."

Jongho nodded, waiting for Hwanwoong to continue.

"The muscles holding his eyes have been cut, the only thing keeping them attached is the optic nerve. The deepest cut is around ten centimeters, the most superficial around three millimeters."

"This one is messier than the others, isn't it? As if the murderer had had some pent up frustrations or something." Jongho said and stood up.

"It definitely is. The others were done without any fighting, and their bodies were in a pretty good condition. They also missed organs or parts of the body, but they were... cut like a surgeon would cut. This one is done like by an amateur. Everything is messy and the heart hasn't been cut off well." Hwanwoong said.

"Do you think it's the same guy?" Jongho asked.

"Mars? Or someone else? I don't know. Somehow these murders are all similar, but also so different. Something doesn't click. As if they want us to find something we haven't found." Hwanwoong sighed.

"It couldn't be organ traffickers, could it?" Jongho wondered.

"No. Would they go in for such drastic measures just to take out the heart this poorly? I can still see a piece of aorta there. They cut it way too short. There is no use for a heart like that. Even you could've done better job." Hwanwoong said and pointed the bloody hole in Wooseok's chest with a gloved finger.

"It's a murder. Just like all others. But it annoys me so fucking much that i can't solve any of these! I can't just arrest Mars because first of all i don't even know how he looks like! And i have literally zero evidence of anything. If we don't get fingerprints or DNA from here that reveals anything, anything, i'm probaby going back to directing cars or something." Jongho said.

"No you won't. You're a really good detective, they won't do that. You just need to get back to the right state of mind. You solved murders every other day before the Yang case. After that you've been like slowed down." Hwanwoong said and patted his shoulder.

Jongho closed his eyes. The Yang case.

It was the reason behind the scar on Jongho's left side. It was the reason of his nightmares and new fears. It was the reason why Jongho was so insecure of solving anything.

Before the Yang case he had been confident. He had solved many cases, put murderers and rapists to prison just like that without looking back. He was a hated and feared name in the underworld. But that one case changed everything, and he still wasn't back to his own self.

"I know. But what i don't know is how to get back. It's like i'm stuck inside this stupid fucking bubble that keeps me from being the me before." Jongho muttered, unintentionally massaging the scar.

"It will take time. What's important is that you're going to therapy and getting help. I know, i just know, that if you manage to solve a case, you're coming back." Hwanwoong smiled at him, and Jongho smiled back.

"Yeah. Let's hope."

Hwanwoong left the space to get them both coffee. It was much needed, because clock was somewhere around three in the morning.

Jongho knelt beside the body. He hated to look at it, smell the disgusting rotten smell and see the dried, bloody wounds, but he had to. 

"Has his body been examined completely?" Jongho asked an autopsy technician.

"Yes, Detective."

"Rape kit?"

"No signs of penetration, Detective."

Jongho sighed. This was all so stupid.

Jongho bit his lower lip and took a rubber glove before putting it on. He grabbed Wooseok's chin gently. No matter how many bodies he had touched and seen, he was never prepared to how cold the skin was. Jongho tilted it to look at Wooseok's neck. There was nothing, not even a bruise. The skin was pale, like a white bedsheet that had been washed with a black shirt. It was grey.

Jongho furrowed his brows. There had to be something. If the same killer was behind all these three murders, they had to identify themselves some way. Murderers were always all about the pride and bragging. They loved to watch news and see their own work of art there.

When Jongho tilted Wooseok's head to left, something catched his eye. It was something on the backside of his ear; something was darker there.

It was a mark. A sign. 

Jongho gasped and leaned lower to look closer. It was definitely a sign, carved to Wooseok's skin with a blade.

"Hwanwoong!" Jongho yelled. Soon the short male came running.

"What?"

"I found something." 

"Look. This sign here." Jongho pointed it with his finger, and Hwanwoong gasped.

"Oh my god! How has that gone past my eyes?"

Jongho shut out Hwanwoong's words as he looked for something else that would lead him to the murderer.

Wooseok's shirt's collar was sticking up a bit on one part of it.

"Hey, can you do a test for fingerprints here? On his collar?" Jongho asked, and they did.

Jongho stood up, feeling a bit better already.

"Do you know the sign?" Hwanwoong asked.

"It was the male sign. You know, females have the plus pointing down, males the arrow pointing to northeast. But that doesn't help at all." Jongho sighed.

Hwanwoong fell quiet. Jongho raked through his mind to find anything, literally anything related to signs or star signs.

That's when it hit him.

"Jesus! How am i this stupid?" Jongho exclaimed while pulling out his phone.

"The female sign is called Venus! The male sign... it's Mars, isn't it?" He asked, going straight to google.

Hwanwoong's eyes widened and he came to stand beside Jongho.

Indeed, when Jongho googled 'Mars sign', the male sign showed up.

"Where are the other bodies from the two murders? I need to check them." Jongho asked Hwanwoong.

"In the autopsy laboratory. Do you think they have the sign too?" Hwanwoong asked, his eyes still wide.

"They have to." Jongho answered, and glanced at him.  
"You need to come with me. And you two, text me immediately if you find any fingerprints. Okay?"

The autopsy assistants nodded, so Jongho grabbed an autopsy document paper where he wrote what he had found.

"Please take a picture of it, as well as the collar. We're in a hurry now."

When he got two nods again, he and Hwanwoong left the apartment almost running. They had suddenly gotten a lot closer to solving the case, just by finding the sign.

"So, Mars is behind that murder." Hwanwoong said when Jongho started the car.

"Probably yes."

"We still don't know what he looks like." 

"You saw the collar, right? One part of it looked like someone had pulled it. If Mars had been as careful with his hands on the collar as on the mirror pieces, they won't find anything. But if he was careless, his fingerprint can be found from Wooseok's collar and boom, we have DNA." Jongho said and turned to left.  
"Which means, we can find out his idenitity."

Hwanwoong's face lit up.

"I knew you were there! Look at you, Jongho!" He cheered, and made Jongho smile.

He felt like his past self again. Hwanwoong had been right.

When they stepped out of the car and walked inside, Jongho began to feel determined. He would find out who killed those three humans so brutally. He was going to give them the peace they deserved.

Hwanwoong scanned his ID and let Jongho inside first. The space smelled like chlorine, but it was much better than the smell of a rotten human body.

"Kim Yohan's body." Hwanwoong said and pulled the body out. 

Jongho pulled on a pair of gloves before he looked at Hwanwoong.

"Go on."

Jongho carefully tilted Yohan's face, so he could see the backside of his ear. It was empty. So was the another one. 

"Their ears don't have anything." Jongho said, feeling despair filling him again.

Hwanwoong walked to another cabinet and pulled a body out.

"What about Han Seungwoo's?"

Jongho walked to the body and checked his ears too. They were empty.

"What is going on? Why isn't there anything?" Jongho asked, his shoulders dropping. 

"Maybe the killers aren't the same." Hwanwoong said.

"No, they have to be. I can feel the connection in these three murders. I just know it." Jongho said and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He walked back to Yohan and started going through his body. His armpits were empty, so were the navel, his sex organ and the area around it.

"You got to be kidding me." Jongho muttered while checking the back of Yohan's knee.

"Empty?" Hwanwoong asked while checking Seungwoo's body.

"Yeah."

Jongho got to Yohan's toes. He was about to just let it go and push the body back, but something made him check the space between the toes.

And there it was.

Between two toes, was the Mars sign.

"Found it!" Jongho said, gaining Hwanwoong's attention.

"Really? Where?" He asked, coming to Jongho.

"Here, between these two toes."

"Holy shit. You are a genius, Jongho. How can you find that? They didn't probably even check his toes since they weren't harmed in any way."

"Mars is behind all this, i just know it. I can feel it. Now we only need to find Seungwoo's mark and get Mars' identity." Jongho said and left Hwanwoong to edit the autopsy report and take pictures of the sign.

He scanned Seungwoo's face. He was really handsome, just like Yohan and Wooseok too. They probably had had a lot of proposers.

Jongho shook his head and checked Seungwoo's toes first. Just like he now had expected, they were empty of any signs. 

"I know the mark is here somewhere. I just know it." Jongho muttered and checked all of the spaces the sign could be situated at.

"If you find it you're a genius. I performed autopsy on that body myself and i didn't see any signs."  
Hwanwoong said, still writing on the computer.

"That's a challenge i'm willing to take." Jongho joked, winking at Hwanwoong.

Even if the situation was really bad, he felt a lot better now that he had felt ever since the Yang case. He felt like his past self was waking up again after being forced down by his mind, fears and insecurities.

Jongho went through the whole body, checking the scalp too. There were no marks, and he was slowly loosing the proud feeling.

"I can't find anything." Jongho said and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his arm.

"It has to be somewhere there. Have you checked everything?" Hwanwoong asked, standing up.

"Yeah. Every single place and hole. Except mouth." While saying that out loud, his eyes widened and he grabbed Seungwoo's jaw before opening it.

"Flashlight?" Hwanwoong asked, and when Jongho nodded, he pointed it to Seungwoo's mouth.

There, on the roof of his mouth, was the mars sign.

"Holy fucking shit! It's there!" Jongho said, and looked at Hwanwoong.

"All these are connected. Wow." Hwanwoong said, giving the flaslight to Jongho so he could take photos. 

"So, what are you doing next?" Hwanwoong asked after a while when he was writing the found mark to the autopsy document.

"I'm going to go report these to Jiho." Jongho said, taking the papers Hwanwoong had printed out of what they had found from Wooseok's, Yohan's and Seungwoo's body.

"Sounds good. After that?"

"We'll see. But i'm going to solve this case no matter what it takes me." Jongho said, glancing at the two bodies for the last time.  
"I'm going to give Wooseok, Seungwoo and Yohan the peace they deserve. After their cases are solved their families can bury them."

Hwanwoong smiled.  
"Message me if you need help. I know you can do this."

"I will. Thanks for the help." Jongho said, and left the laboratory. 

Jongho took the elevator up. He made the mistake of looking at his reflection from the mirror. He looked absolutely horrible. The dark circles under his eyes were darker than the sky currently, which had been pretty stormy for a long while. 

He definitely needed a good amount of sleep, but when he was able to sleep for as long as he wanted, the nightmares kept him up.

The ding of the elevator woke him up from his thoughts, and he walked out. Chief Woo's office was right in front of him, and he knocked.

"Come on in."

Jongho opened the door and stepped inside.

"Good morning, Chief." Jongho greeted him.

"Oh, Jongho. Take a seat."

Jongho sat down on the chair, lifting his gaze to Jiho's eyes.

"What do you have in your mind?" Jiho asked.

"I have found out something similar in the murders. All of the three bodies have the same sign carved in to the skin. The sign is the Mars sign, which indicates that the possible murderer could be the Mars everyone is scared of." Jongho said and gave Jiho the papers.

"I have also requested fingerprints from Kim Wooseok's collar, as i saw that the fabric had definitely been pulled, so if the murderer was careless his fingerprint can be found from there. That way we could identify Mars and get him to interrogation." Jongho explained while Jiho read the papers.

Jiho was silent for a moment, but when he looked up, he was smiling.

"Excellent job, Jongho."

Jongho smiled and felt his chest swell with pride. Finally he got positive feedback.

"You really outed yourself this time too. It's good to see you're slowly coming back to your actual self. Very, very good. When is the fingerprint scan ready?" Jiho asked, and Jongho glanced at the watch on his wrist.

"It should be done any moment now."

"This is a huge thing, Jongho. Mars has walked freely in Seoul for over an year, but maybe now we can get him. He has killed enough people."

"What is his victim count?" Jongho asked. Everyone seemed to know more of Mars than he did.

"I belive it's somewhere between 150 and 230. Legalized mafias have messaged us constantly about him, but without any evidence or info we can't do anything, as you know. And no one is brave enough to give anything about him, because they're going to get killed too if they do. So basically, if he's behind these murders, the count is three, because that's how much we know." Jiho said, and was about to continue when Jongho's phone beeped.

"I'm sorry." Jongho said and was about to put his phone to mute, when he saw the message.  
"Fingerprints have been found." He read out loud, and then looked at Jiho again, who was smiling.

"What are you waiting for? Go! I'm making this your case now."

Jongho thanked him and scrambled up, taking the papers and running out of the office to the laboratory he knew the tests were held. 

"I'm sorry," he apologized to another detective as the ran. He was getting closer all the time.

When he ran inside the laboratory, they were already waiting for him.

"Show me." Was all he said, and the analyticians typed something on the computer.

"As you said, the murderer was really careful of leaving fingerprints on the body, but somehow messed up with grabbing Kim's collar. His fingerprints were found from it." The analytician explained, showing the picture of the collar.

"Who is he?" Jongho asked.

When the profile popped up, Jongho held his breath.

A man with blonde hair and stern gaze was staring from the screen. It was a passport picture, everyone looked a bit intimidating in those, but this man screamed danger.

Was it because of the eyes that looked cold and almost empty, was it because of the sharp facial features or was it the way the man carried himself? Whatever the reason was, this person was really intimidating and dangerous. 

"Jesus christ. I feel like looking away and that's only his picture." Jongho said, feeling a little breathless.

The man was really beautiful. That could be said. No wonder how he lured his victims to trust him, if he looked like that. But if only looking at his picture made the hairs on Jongho's arms stand up, he never wanted to meet this man in real life.

But he had to. This was now his case, and he had to make sure justice was served and the victims of this man got peace.

"I'm going to make you rot in prison for the rest of your life," Jongho started.

"Park Seonghwa."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Welcome to read A good lil detective! 
> 
> It’s the beginning of an exciting journey. See you next saturday!
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/cloudyjjongie?s=21) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/Cloudyjongho)


	2. Bad cop good cop

Jongho's fingers drummed a steady rhythm on the table. The laptop screen in front of him was bright, almost too bright, and had began to hurt his eyes.

They had gotten some information of Mars. He had a manor, or atleast a huge house, somewhere in Seoul. That was the meeting place of his and his cult members. 

But criminals and mafia members refused to speak about him, as if they feared that if they said his name he would just magically appear and kill them. Which was ridiculous.

"Hey, Jongho, found anything?" Keonhee, his partner, asked as he walked to the room.

"No. We should, no we need, to get someone inside that cult. Because without it we can't know where Mars moves or where he spends his freetime. But that's easier said than done, because we don't know anything about his cult either." Jongho said and massaged his eyes with the heels of his palms. 

"We seriously don't have anything on him?" Keonhee asked and sat down next to Jongho.

"Nothing. Other than the picture and name. We know he has murdered Kim Wooseok, but we don't have evidence against him on the other two ones. Or in the twohundred murders either, because we don't even have those bodies." 

"That makes everything a bit more difficult. What about just giving a picture and a name to public and making an arrest warrant?" Keonhee asked and clicked Mars' profile open.  
"Holy shit, he's scary."

"I know right. But that wouldn't work, because we don't know where he is right now, so think about if he decides to flee and possibly leave this country. We would never catch him." Jongho said and studied the frown on Keonhee's face. The taller man hummed.

"It just annoys me that we have the murderer found out, but we can't get him to prison. Kim Wooseok wouldn't need to be kept in the morgue for three months like Han Seungwoo." Jongho continued.

"Han's and Kim Yohan's bodies are going to be there until the murders are solved, which can potentially take at least a year. Depends on if we catch Mars and make him speak, because in theory he is the murderer of both Kim's and Han." Keonhee said, biting his nail.

"Easier said than done. If we can't testify that he is the murderer of Kim Yohan and Han alongside Kim Wooseok, he's only going to face one sentence in prison. Technically we have that mark of his as evidence, but then again, anyone could use that. Heck, maybe Park Seongwha isn't Mars, and the murderer of the Kim's and Han is just a man who likes leaving the gender there." Jongho sighed.

"No, let's believe on the Mars theory for now. It actually makes sense and can lead us forward." 

"I'm so tired Hee," Jongho said, pouted and rolled with his chair to Keonhee and laid his head on the tall man's lap.

Keonhee just started combing his fingers through Jongho's hair.

"I know, you have been working hard for the last months. Not solving cases takes a lot of energy, but solving cases takes even more." Keonhee answered.

"I feel a lot better now, just like Hwanwoong said i would." 

"That's good. That's really good. Listen, after this case, i'm treating you beef." 

Jongho snorted.  
"Deal. Better be expensive beef too."

"Hello, i'm a detective, of course it's expensive beef! What do you except from your own partner?"

Keonhee and Jongho had been partners ever since Jongho's career skyrocketed.

He started off as a normal police officer, but after breaking some rules to solve a case he had quickly been named as a detective. Detectives had to be over 21 years old, but something had made Jiho break that rule. After that his career had been all sunshine and rainbows for a while. He had solved many, many cases by being able to symphatize and understand the criminals or seeing the tiniest bits of evidence. He was the ace of interrogation, too. 

But after the Yang case, it had all gone downwards. He lost a part of him. 

"Do you think we'll ever find Mars?" Jongho asked.

"Yes. We're going to find him. He can't espace from us forever."

Jongho hummed, closing his eyes.

"Besides, you found out something this big in like three hours, so tracking down Mars won't take more than a week. And it has already been four days since Kim's murder."

"Why is the number three everywhere now? Three murders in three months, it took me three hours, we have three days until it has been a week..." Jongho complained, earning a small tug on his hair from Keonhee.

"It's a sign. A sign, that you should respect me since i'm three times better than you!" Keonhee said, and Jongho laughed.

————

Jongho woke up to his phone ringing loudly beside his face on the pillow.

"Jesus..." he muttered at the loud sound.

It was only 3am, why was Jiho calling him?

"Choi Jongho," He answered.

"Hi, Jongho. Sorry for waking you up this early, but team 2 has arrested Park Seonghwa."

Jongho was silent for a while. Park Seonghwa, as in Mars? How? 

"What? Are you kidding?" Jongho asked, put the phone on speaker while he scrambled up and started pulling on his detective uniform, which consisted of black pants, white button up shirt with the logos of his police department, a black tie, and a belt. He only wore gun holsters if he had a mission.

While putting on his shoes and taking everything he would need, Jiho hung up after promising to explain everything when he arrived. Jongho sighed and made sure he looked as presentable as possible and pulled on his jacket.

He made sure he got everything and locked his door, running down the stairs. The biggest case of his life was waiting for him.

A part of him felt sad that he wasn't the one to arrest Mars, but he was also glad he didn't, because now he was another new pawn to use. Mars didn't know what to wait for.

When he parked his car, Jiho was already waiting for him. 

"We got an anonymous hint about an hour ago, and we sent team 2 immediately there. Park was visiting a nightclub, and we actually caught him." Jiho explained when Jongho jumped out and they began walking towards the building fast.

Jongho nodded.  
"Has he said anything?"

"No. Geonhak got unlucky and had to become his lawyer, but he hasn't talked to him either. Seoho tried to talk to him, but he stayed quiet. I hope you get something out of him." Jiho said and opened the door to him.

"I'm meeting him immediately?" Jongho asked, his stomach dropping. He was confident and all, but he hadn't had any time to prepare questions.

"Yes."

Jiho lead him towards one of the interrogation rooms, and Jongho squeezed his backpack with his knuckes white. This was his chance.

"Just do what you usually do. You're heckin' good at this, Jongho." Jiho said and patted his back when Jongho stepped into the observation room.

He stopped and stared at the man inside the interrogation room. The man didn't know he was there, thanks to the one way window.

There was the blonde haired man, Park Seonghwa. He was quietly sitting on the chair with his cuffed up hands resting on the table. He played with the chain.

Seonghwa was still dressed in his own clothes. A black turtleneck and grey pants held up with a belt. Some necklaces hung in his neck, and if Jongho saw correctly, a tattoo crawled up his neck too. 

He looked very calm. There was no expressions or emotions on his face, no fear, sadness, anger or anxiousness. He just sat there like he was in a cafe.

He was indeed very handsome. If it had been a regular night and Jongho had been in a bar, he would've probably crushed on this man for weeks and hated himself for not talking to him.

"Hey," Came Seoho's voice next to him.

"Hi." Jongho greeted back, but refused to take his eyes off Mars. Or Seonghwa.

"You going in?" Seoho asked, and Jongho nodded.

"Yeah. I'm just studying his emotions." 

Jongho had gotten a good amount of training about interrogations. He knew how to read people like an open book, yet Seonghwa showed nothing.

"Is there something different in him?" 

"Definitely. But i'm going to proceed just like always with dangerous criminals." Jongho said and dropped his backpack, as well as took off his jacket. All he needed inside was the file.

Seoho smiled and patted his back when Jongho walked to the door. He took a deep breath and got inside his detective mode again before opening the door.

He knew Seonghwa was looking at him now, but he refused to look back. He just stepped inside and turned to look at the two police officers inside. One of them had bright blue hair, which made Jongho furrow his brows a bit. Definitely an eye-catching color.

"Would you mind..?" Jongho asked, pointing to the observation room.

The police officers definitely hesitated, but as Jongho rised his brow, they left the room quickly. 

Jongho walked to the table and pulled the chair back, still not sparing Seonghwa a look. He wasn't the one to stare, Seonghwa was.

He only lifted up his gaze when he was sat comfortably on the chair. Seonghwa stared at him, now one corner of his mouth risen in a smirk.

"Good morning, Mr. Park," Jongho started, giving Seonghwa a small smile.

He knew what kind of tactic Seoho had used. He had tried to intimidate Seonghwa by throwing the file on the table, or glaring at him, maybe going as far as pulling him by the neck of his shirt, but Jongho used the opposite. Throwing things around wouldn't intimidate someone like Mars. Someone who had cut Wooseok's body open just like that. A small pull or slap wouldn't make him whimper with his tail between his legs.

"Good morning indeed, Detective..." Seonghwa,  
or Mars trailed off, waiting for a name.

"Detective." Jongho answered.

He didn't necessarily need to hide his surname since Seonghwa would find it out just by asking someone, it was his right, but not telling it like this was a small way to show dominance.

"Detective." Seonghwa repeated, as if trying how it rolled off his tongue.

"You are aware of your rights, i suppose?" Jongho asked.

"Very aware. That Geonhak man explained them."

Jongho nodded, putting the file down on the table.

"So. Why do you think you're here?" Jongho asked, staring Seonghwa straight to his eyes, who was just smirking.

"I don't know, Detective, you tell me?" He said, smiling wickedly.

He wanted to hear all the gruesome things he had done. He wanted Jongho to read them out loud and he wanted to see Jongho's face while he did it.

"Well, since you asked..." Jongho started, not quivering down. He opened the file.  
"You're suspected for three first degree murders." He said. Simply like that.

"Hmm? First degree?" Seonghwa asked, tilting his head to the right and letting his tongue run on his lower lip.

Fuck, that was attractive.

"Yes, Mr. Park." Jongho said, sliding pictures from Kim Wooseok's, Kim Yohan's and Han Seungwoo's instagram forward on the table and showing them to Seonghwa.

The said man leaned forward and stared at the pictures. It was quiet for a while.

"They were beautiful, weren't they?" Seonghwa asked.

"They indeed were." Jongho answered.

"Bet the state you found them made them even more beautiful." Seonghwa continued.

"I don't know, do you prefer humans with wounds?" Jongho asked, looking up from the file at Seonghwa.

His smile faltered a bit. Maybe it was because of the bored expression Jongho had. Seonghwa realised he hadn't managed to rile Jongho up any way.

"Are you the one responsible for this case?" Seonghwa asked.

"Yes. This is my case."

"So you're the reason why i'm here." Seonghwa stated more than answered.

"That's partially true. You're here because i found out about your stuff, but more because of the all... things you have done. You know that, Mr. Park."

Seonghwa hummed and nodded.  
"What gave me away?" 

"Your fingerprints on Wooseok's collar." 

"On his collar? Did you take samples of his whole body?" Seonghwa asked, laughing a bit.

"No. I wouldn't have found them if it wasn't for the pulling you had done before carving your mark."

Seonghwa's smirk faltered a bit before rising up again.

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Seonghwa asked.

Jongho just shrugged.  
"I'm here to talk about you, not me. So let's start. Do you regret anything at all?"

Seonghwa laughed.  
"No. Nothing. I found killing them entertaining, it's almost like getting high." 

Jongho nodded, writing down one word: psychopath.

"What about your cult? Do they prefer it over drugs?" Jongho asked.

"That's what you call them?"

"What do you prefer?" Jongho asked back.

Seonghwa just shrugged.  
"Followers. Or something."

Someone knocked on the one sided window, clearly signifying to stop talking about unnecessary bullshit and start questioning him. Jongho held back the sigh, barely.

"Let's play cop and the robber, Detective. Or in this case, the cop and the serial killer. Who catches who first?" Seonghwa asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes, and lifted his cuffed hands up.

"These won't hold me for long, Detective."

Jongho swallowed and stared back, narrowing his eyes a bit. He was threatening Jongho.

"Names. I want names, Mr. Park." Jongho continued, looking Seonghwa to his eyes with a bored expression to show he wasn't shaken up.

"Maybe if you kneel down for me and act pretty for a moment," Seonghwa answered with a smirk.

Jongho couldn't stop the blush of humiliation spreading on his cheeks. This man was playing with him.

"I'm afraid that wouldn't be appropriate, Mr. Park."

"Seonghwa."

"Mr. Park." Jongho said strictly. He wasn't going to start calling a killer by his first name.

"Tell me your name, Detective." Seonghwa tried, leaning forward so he rested his cuffed hands on the table.

"I believe you don't need it, Mr. Park." Jongho answered, biting on his tongue inside his closed mouth to focus better and get something out of that man.

"Geez, do i have to push you against the table and fuck you open to get you to say my name? Or scream it," Seonghwa said, and watched as the blush on Jongho's cheeks came back slowly. This dipshit was enjoying this.

He wasn't here to play with Jongho, he was here to get arrested. 

"Let's continue. How many murders have you committed?" Jongho was beginning to lose his cool demeanor.

"So you sway that way." 

Calm down. Calm down.

"Have you murdered more?"

"Do you receive or give? I definitely see you as the receiver," Seonghwa continued.

"We have found three with your mark." Jongho stated, barely keeping his face emotionless as his hands gripped the file harder.

"Three? Only three?" Seonghwa said, bursting into loud laughter.

Jongho lifted his brow.  
"So there's more?"

"Yeah." Seonghwa said, calming down and leaning against the chair.

"How many?" Jongho asked. Now they were getting somewhere.

"It doesn't work like this, Detective. It's answers to answers. Tell me your name, and maybe you'll get more."

Jongho sighed, and closed the file. He would visit Seonghwa later. He stood up, the metallic chair scratching against the floor and letting out painful screeches that hurt his ears.

Seonghwa wouldn't tell him anything Jongho needed even if he started playing the twenty questions with him.

"Leaving already, Detective?" Seonghwa asked, and for the first time in this twenty-minutes long interrogation, some different emotion crossed his face than arrogance or confidence. He was disappointed.

"Yeah. I can't get anything else out of you, so someone else will continue." He said, lying. 

He would come back. But making Seonghwa feel desperate for his attention, which he had already been, was a part of sucking the information out.

"We got on well, Detective." Seonghwa said, his voice now cold, the opposite of the sugar-sweet one he had used earlier. 

Jongho glanced at Seonghwa one more time, and grabbed the file. 

"Goodbye, Mr. Park."

And like that, he left the room, feeling Seonghwa's eyes on his back.

When the door closed, Jongho let out a big exhale. He now let the blush cover his cheeks and the emotions show.

"Good job. I knew you would get something out of him." Jiho said, smiling at him.

"I'm planning to go back after two-ish hours. I just need to make him feel like he was the only one with interest in that chat." Jongho said.

Jiho lifted his brows.  
"Interest?"

"Yeah? I have an interest, i want to solve the case." Jongho said, looking at Jiho weirdly.  
"Don't tell me you're thinking that-" He continued, almost choking on his spit.

"I'm teasing you Jongho, you would never fall for a murderer." Jiho said, laughing and patting Jongho's back.

Jongho laughed, thinking about it. Ridiculous thought.

"Anyways. Who was the one that snitched him?" Jongho asked. 

"We don't know yet, and i hope he doesn't know either. Because that's the end of that dude's story." Jiho said, sighing.

"I'm going to visit Geonhak. Send someone else to talk to him, even if he doesn't want to open his mouth." Jongho said and smiled at Jiho before walking out of the observation room.

He walked down the hallway, peeking into rooms, until he saw Geonhak's brown hair.

"Hey," He greeted the lawyer, stepping inside that room.

"Oh, hi." Geonhak said back to him, stopping his fingers on the keyboard of his laptop.

"I came to talk about Park Seonghwa." Jongho said, sitting down.

Geonhak nodded, closing his laptop.  
"A difficult case, isn't it?" 

"Definitely. How are you doing? Found anything to help him?" Jongho asked, cringing at the question.

Geonhak shook his head before speaking up;  
"Nothing. If he doesn't talk to me i can't help him. It's not like i want to, but it's my job."

Jongho nodded. He understood Geonhak. 

"I just interrogated him, and... it was interesting. He was way more difficult than others. He was different."

"Got anything?" 

"Yeah. He has murdered more than the three." Jongho said, grinning lopsidedly.

"Jesus. That means even more work for me. Why would he say that?" Geonhak said, sighing.

Jongho's phone beeped, and he glanced at the screen before snorting.

"Jiho just texted me. 'He refused to talk to anyone that isn't the pretty boy.'" Jongho read out loud, earning a chuckle from Geonhak.

He texted back a quick 'i'm coming after some time' before putting his phone away.

"If we only manage to get him guilty for one murder, how much do you think he'll face in prison?" Jongho asked.

"Atleast 25 years. Kim Wooseok's murder was so gruesome, that a life wouldn't be too far away either. But if i do my job well and he doesn't make things harder for himself, i'd say somewhere around 30 years. If i'm extra good, he'll probably be able to beg for parole after 25 years." Geonhak explained.

"Bet being a lawyer is hard." Jongho said, chuckling dryly.

"Job is job, money is money. I do feel bad after reducing a rapist's sentence, but..." He trailed off, waving his hand around.

"I get it. You're a professional." Jongho said.

"Yeah." 

Jongho was silent for a while.

"I'll leave you to work, and go back to Park. Looks like he can't stay away from me." Jongho joked, stood up and left Geonhak's temporary office after saying goodbye.

Jongho turned on the hallway, thinking of possible questions to ask him. Hopefully now he would get more out. He walked back to the observation room, only to find it empty. 

It wasn't weird, but what made alarms ring in Jongho's head was the door to the interrogation room, which was open.

Jongho's eyes widened and he immediately ran to the door, and stared at the empty chair. The cuffs and chains that had held Seonghwa's hands rested on the table, the chains arranged to the shape of a heart.

Jongho gasped and ran inside the observation room again, pressing the emergency button before taking his radiophone.

"PARK SEONGHWA HAS ESCAPED. I REPEAT, PARK SEONGHWA HAS ESCAPED."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi and happy saturday! How are you guys?
> 
> Did you like this chapter? It was a bit more exciting than the last one since we got Seonghwa hahahah!
> 
> How do you think Seonghwa escaped? Any theories of it? If not, we’ll see next saturday!
> 
> I usually publish a new chapter every saturday at 9pm kst, but now i published earlier hahaha. I became impatient again.
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/cloudyjjongie?s=21) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/Cloudyjongho)
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	3. See me bleed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Seonghwa’s escape

Jongho began running. He ran out of the room and to the hallway, looking around for Seonghwa.

This couldn't be happening. 

"I want the names of those two police officers who stayed with him. I want the fucking list they signed their names to!" Jongho yelled to his radiphone while running.

Someone muttered something back to him, but he didn't catch it. 

There was literally no one. No signs of other persons than Geonhak who ran to Jongho.

"What's happening? Why is the emergency alarm on?" Geonhak asked.

"Park escaped." Was all Jongho said before taking the phone again.

"I want the fucking padge numbers of those two officers! Who were they?" Jongho continued, his voice filled with annoyance and anger. How could've they messed up this bad?

"I'll check this exit." Geonhak said before bolting towards another hallway.

"How did we manage to lose a fucking serial killer in two hours? He was arrested two hours ago! Two! Why is he free now!" Jongho said angrily while holding his gun in his other hand and running.

"Calm down, Jongho. We'll find him." Keonhee's voice came from his phone, it was a bit raspy,  
but he understood it anyways.

"No we fucking won't. We wouldn't have found him if it wasn't for the anonymous tip, and now he has escaped."

Jongho rolled his eyes when someone began stuttering something about not knowing.

"I want all cars available to patrol around the city. He can't be too far. And at least three helicopters." Jongho said and barged into a hallway, only to find it empty.

"Check," Came Seoho's voice.

Even though Jongho was younger than everyone else, this was his case, and he was fuming, so no one really minded the way he was speaking. They were nervous too.

"Did you find the officers?" Jongho asked, running out of the whole police department and looking around.

"The list has two names, Lee Taeil and Ahn Jaehyo." 

Jongho stopped to take a breath as the police cars raced past him. He counted to ten before putting his gun away and taking a deep, deep breath again.

"Okay. I saw the two officers and they definitely weren't Taeil or Jaehyo. Two of you, go check their house. And prepare yourselves." Jongho said, looking around.

The sun was just rising, painting the sky beautiful orange.

"Do you think they are..." Keohee's voice trailed off.

"I don't think, i know. They are dead, so if any of you has a weak mind, don't go." 

"I'll go with Seoho and Youngjo." Keonhee said, and Jongho was about to answer when Jiho joined the conversation. 

"What is happening, Jongho?" 

"Let's meet in Dongju's office." Was all Jongho said before he turned back and began walking inside again.

He took his own phone and called Dongju. He was their hacker-kind-of-guy.

"I need CCTV material starting from the time when Lee Taeil's and Ahn Jaehyo's keycards were used to get inside the department."

When the call ended, Jongho walked towards Dongju's office. This was definitely not his day at all. Now they had a killer on lose. What was more fun than that?

He didn't even bother knocking when he walked inside. Dongju and Jiho were both there already, and Jongho sat down.

"To put this simply, Park had two guys helping him. They probably killed Taeil and Jaehyo this morning before taking their uniforms and padges. They waltzed in just like that, having the time of their life, because no one questioned them. I don't know who was the idiot that didn't check the ID's of the two of them before letting them inside the interrogation room. All i can remember of them is that one of them had bright blue hair, and he was really tall." Jongho said, showing the parts of the CCTV material where 'Taeil' and 'Jaehyo' walked inside the police department.

Jiho was silent, but pursed his lips in to a thin line.

"Then, after you and me left the observation room, they just took off his cuffs and walked out. Just like that." Jongho said, leaning against the back of the chair.

"Who were the officers that were with him during the first hour after his arrest?" Jiho asked.

"Kim Yookwon and Park Kyung. The two men who helped Seonghwa out switched with them after an hour, just like they're supposed to do with real officers."

"This is crazy." Dongju muttered.

"I'll go join Youngjo, Keonhee and Seoho visiting Lee's and Ahn's house." Jongho said, standing up.

He walked out again, jumping to his SUV before starting the car and driving away. 

"What is the situation over there?" Jongho asked, driving with one hand and looking around.

"We're just arriving. Is there a reason to suspect they're in there?" Came Seoho's voice.

"I don't think so. They wouldn't be that stupid, because they know we're coming." Jongho answered to him, pressing his feet on the gas harder and driving way too fast now.

"Do we wait for you?" Seoho asked.

"I'm almost there." Was all Jongho answered as he made a turn and saw the building. 

Taeil and Jaehyo were roommates. They had gone through police academy together and now had worked together as partners, so there was no reason to live separately. They had had an amazing relationship. What a shame they had to go too early.

Jongho jumped out of his car and walked to Seoho, Keonhee, Youngjo and Hwanwoong, who had also joined them.

"Let's go." 

They were all quiet. They all knew Taeil and Jaehyo, they were one of the funniest officers. They were always making jokes and goofing around.

They were all hurt inside, but they had to keep themselves collected, because a murderer was away. Three murderers.

They walked up the stairs, not even thinking about taking the elevator.

Even though Jongho knew no one would answer, he still knocked. It was silent, and Jongho just sighed before Seoho gave him the key they had gotten from the caretaker of this apartment. They wanted him to go first. Understandable, Seoho and Youngjo had been really close with them.

Jongho took his gun out, opened the door and peeked inside. No one. He took a careful step inside and switched on the lights, hoping to see Taeil and Jaehyo asleep.

Jongho had to close his eyes, swallow and take a deep, quivering breath before opening them again.

Taeil's and Jaehyo's bodies were attached to the wall with their hands- probably with a drill. A long, long screw pierced through the skin, flesh and bone of their palms, blood covering the most of it.

Their mouths were taped up with ducktape, but their bodies were full of holes. Jongho took a step forward. The murderers had clearly tried to drill through any parts of their body, but managed to only do it to their palms. He didn't even realised he was shaking until he lifted a hand up to tap himself on the cheek.

"Are those holes- made with that drill?" Hwanwoong's voice came beside him, and Jongho looked down to see a drill on the floor. It was bloody, and there was still one huge, long screw attached to it.

Jongho just nodded. It was an absolutely disgusting scene. It seemed to burn on his retinas, making sure to keep Jongho awake for hours when he wanted to sleep. 

But for killers, it was art. Making mess with blood was art, slicing people open and watching their crimson red blood pour out of the wound was beauty. Jongho had met so many murderers that he knew what they felt while killing. It was an euphoric feeling.

Taeil's face was still a bit puffy. He had definitely been crying. If the men had done this while they were still alive, Jongho-

It was Seoho that gagged. He didn't vomit, but he doubled over and gagged. Normally they could've handled this scene well, but seeing two of their friends killed brutally like this didn't certainly feel good at all.

"Keonhee, could you call Jiho?" Jongho asked, and his partner nodded.

"Do they have marks?" Hwanwoong asked, walking so close to the bodies that if Jongho had done that, he would've probably fainted.

"I don't know. Probably not, atleast not the Mars sign. Maybe some other one, but we'll find that out once the crime scene investigators and photographers come and take pictures. Do you think you could perform the autopsy on them? Seoho and Youngjo would appreciate it." Jongho asked, glancing at the shorter male.

"Of course." Hwanwoong said and smiled at him a bit before walking back to Seoho to talk to him.

Sometimes Jongho wondered if there was anything that disgusted Hwanwoong. The man had probably seen the most gruesome murders that would've made Jongho puke. Well, Hwanwoong did do autopsies as a job. He was probably used to seeing the organs of a human body.

The crimescene investigators came, as well as the photographers and soon the bodies were ready to get moved. Hwanwoong came with Jongho back to the headquarter.

They drove right behind the hearse, and Hwanwoong sighed.

"Before Mars my job was a lot calmer. I used to perform autopsies for literally any police department in South Korea, but now i barely have time to finish one before the next body comes in." Hwanwoong said.

Jongho stayed quiet. His mind was wandering to Seonghwa again. When had they made up this masterplan? Where was he anyways? They had been really quick, because no one had been able to see even a glimpse of him or two of his puppets. 

Jongho stopped the car and they got out, following the bodies that were being pushed towards the autopsy laboratory.

Hwanwoong helped Jongho to cover up properly, before Jongho helped Hwanwoong pull on the suit he always wore for autopsies, as well as the hat, mask and gloves. 

"I'll wipe the extra blood away. Let's check the mark after that." Hwanwoong said, took some wiping cloths he used and put some liquid on them before he carefully unwrapped Taeil's body and began wiping it. 

Jongho walked around in the laboratory, eyeing the various types of instruments and pictures. It was a scary place, to be honest. Jongho's skin was constantly on goosebumps, not because of that day's events but the tension and the silence that could only be made by dead people.

"I don't think we need to search for too long." Hwanwoong's voice came, and Jongho walked back to him.

He pointed at a mark that was carved onto Taeil's skin.

"That's... what is that? It almost looks like a s letter." Jongho said, tilting his head to look at the mark.

"It's a starsign. Aries." Hwanwoong said.  
"I studied them just for this case.

Jongho's jaw opened at that.  
"So they're interested in astrology..."

"Definitely. The murderer of this man is either born in late march or early april." Hwanwoong said, moving on to Jaehyo's body.

"I wonder if Mars has his Venus." Jongho wondered out loud, watching Taeil's pale and emotionless face that had always been grinning.

"Hmm? A partner?" 

"A girlfriend." Jongho answered, leaning closer to take in the nasty hole on Taeil's palm.

"He's not straight, that i can tell. Atleast that's what i think after all those things he said to you."

"How do you know?" Jongho asked, looking up.

"Seoho couldn't stop laughing about it."

Jongho rolled his eyes. Of course.  
"Yeah, he wanted me on my knees for him." 

Hwanwoong snorted.

"Atleast now we know what Mars and... Aries look like. I wonder what is the third guy's starsign." Jongho said, walking over to Hwanwoong.

"Aries didn't bother hiding his mark like Mars did, and looks like Cancer didn't either."

Jongho lifted his right brow and followed Hwanwoong's gloved index finger. It pointed to the carved mark on Jaehyo's hip.

"Aries, Mars and Cancer. Wonder how many cult members they have." Jongho said.

"I hope not too many, but then again, i don't blame any of them for falling for his looks. He's extremely handsome." Hwanwoong said.

"I know right? If it was a normal moment, i would've developed a crush on him in a snap. But he's a killer and i'm a cop." 

"You know, i could write a story of you guys. I was really good at writing," Hwanwoong grinned.

"When? In high school?" Jongho asked, grinning too.

"Elementary school." 

The two of them bursted in loud laughter, forgetting everything for a moment. It felt good, even if they were in a space Hwanwoong cut open bodies. Even if the room beside this one was full of victims of gruesome murders. Even if a hot serial killer was free again, even if Jongho's life could be in danger. It was all good for two seconds.

"Alright. Do you want to keep watching the autopsy or?" Hwanwoong asked, putting on a different pair of gloves again.

"No thanks. I still want to be able to eat." Jongho answered.

"Take care and stay safe. Message me if anything comes up, okay? You need to be careful, Mars might be after you now that he knows you're behind his arrest." Hwanwoong said, his tone changing into a worrying one.

"I will. You too, don't become crazy with all these bodies." Jongho said, and grinned when Hwanwoong did a thing he probably shouldn't have. He lifted Taeil's hand up and waved at Jongho.

"Ew! Disgusting, he's dead!" Jongho said.

"Sorry, honey." Hwanwoong said and picked a scalpel.

That was Jongho's que to leave, and he stepped outside the room and took off the protective suit.

He activated his police radio.  
"Found anything about Park?"

"Nothing. It's as if he just teleported or vanished." Came one officer's voice, and Jongho sighed.

"Keonhee?" He asked, worrying after his partner.

"All gucci. I'm at out spot."

Jongho closed his radio and began walking up again. He would need to do paperwork of everything that had happened today, as well from the interrogation.

"Is Seoho okay? Youngjo too?" He asked Keonhee when he walked in.

"I wouldn't say okay, but better now that they don't have the to look at the corpses of their friends." Keonhee answered, typing something on his laptop.

"We found out marks from their bodies. The other one is called Aries, atleast for now before we get his information, and the other one is Cancer." Jongho said and sat down, opening his laptop.

"They left marks too?" Keonhee asked.

"Yes. This cult of theirs likes astrology."

Keonhee was silent for a while.  
"Can that lead us to somewhere?"

"No. Atleast not yet. We need to get a clear picture of them; pictures, names, birthdates and basically everything. You know the stuff." Jongho said, and began to write his report of today's events.

————

It was late at night when Jongho was done with everything. All the paperwork was on him since he was the one that got Seonghwa to talk, he was the one who found the interrogation room empty, he was the one who had been investigating the bodies with Hwanwoong.

Jongho jumped out of his car, taking his stuff from the backseat and continued to the door. It opened with his six-number code, and he took the elevator. After running around at the headquarters his legs were tired, and he was too. He had woken up at three am because of Seonghwa's arrest, and he had done a 19 fricking hours shift. Atleast he got more money.

Jongho opened the door to his apartment while yawning. He couldn't wait until he got to eat, shower and sleep. 

After he took off his shoes, walked deeper into the apartment and switched on the light to his livingroom, he screamed.

Jongho literally screamed and pulled his gun out, loading and holding it straight in front of him.

There, sitting calmly on his couch, was Seonghwa. He was playing with the remote control of Jongho's television.

"WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!" Jongho yelled, suddenly feeling very scared.

He was in a room, alone with a serial killer, who was probably here to kill him. Keonhee would find his body tomorrow if he didn't show up at work.

"Shh, don't be so loud, honey." Seonghwa said calmly, his low voice smooth.

Jongho's hands trembled and he pointed Seongwha with the gun.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Jongho hissed. 

The last thing he wanted to do was to cause too much noise. That would make the neighbours mad, and they would come to his apartment. Which gave Seonghwa even more bodies to mutilate.

"I came to meet you?" Seonghwa announced with an asking tone, and stood up.

He was wearing different clothes now. He had a black, loose-fitting silk shirt that had way too many buttons open to be appropriate, and a pair of tight black jeans.

"Don't move. Don't fucking move or i'll shoot you."  
Jongho said through his gritted together teeth.

Seonghwa lifted his hands up for a while, a mocking smirk on his face. 

"No need to be mad. I'm just here to talk."

"I've been reporting about you and your cute little puppets the whole day. You got the whole police department going absolutely crazy and now you want to talk?" Jongho asked, his eyes never leaving Seonghwa.

"Is that what you're thinking about? You have me here in your living room and you tell me that my vanishing trick gave you a pile of paperwork?" Seonghwa asked, smirking and tilting his head.

Now that he said it out loud, Jongho realised how stupid it sounded. 

"You're here to kill me, aren't you?" Jongho changed the topic.

"What makes you think like that?" 

"Well, i'm the one that got you arrested." Jongho answered, his muscles still flexed.

"No, it was my stupidity. I don't hold grudges of something i have caused myself. Especially when i know i can escape any moment." Seonghwa took a huge step forward, which made Jongho take one back and straighten his hands even more to keep a good grip of the gun.

"Don't come closer. Don't fucking come closer."

"You know, it's such a shame that a diamond like you is being wasted." Seonghwa took one step closer.

Jongho knew he should've shot him. It was the only thing he should have done, it was the thing he had warned Seonghwa about. If he moved, Jongho would shoot him. But there he was, two steps closer to him, but Jongho still couldn't pull the trigger.

"Take one step closer and i'll burst out your brains." Jongho said, his voice trembling a lot now that the killer was uncuffed and about a meter away from him.

Jongho was absolutely terrified. He was so scared, that he could feel his eyes moisten up. He had never ever in his life been this afraid of anything. Not when he had been held on gunpoint, not when he had fought with insanely good fighters with knives.

"Oh no darling, don't cry." Suddenly Seonghwa's voice was soft. It was so, so, soft, that Jongho couldn't even believe his own ears.

"D-don't come closer." Jongho said, his voice now small and trembling. He was trapped and was about to die.

Seonghwa's eyes softened, and he was quiet for a while.

"I came here to ask you a question. Who was the one that snitched about me?" Seonghwa asked.

"I- I don't know. I just know that someone gave us a hint, but i don't know who. I swear i don't." 

Jongho didn't know when the situation had turned from Jongho threatening Seonghwa to Jongho trying to make Seonghwa believe him. That made his eyes water even more, because he realised how disadvantaged he was.

"Honey..." Was all Seonghwa said, and he took another step forward. He was only a dozen centimeters away from Jongho's gun that shook a lot.

As much as Jongho wanted to shoot, he couldn't. 

He tried to, he begged himself to, but his finger refused to work. The first tear ran down his face. He was like a trapped animal. He was supposed to win, but Seonghwa overpowered and managed to dominate the situation even if Jongho had a loaded gun.

Seonghwa took the last step and pushed the gun away with his hand, which was more than enough to make Jongho drop the gun from his shaking fingers.

He was dead. He had lost his weapon.

Suddenly Seonghwa's hands wrapped around Jongho's trembling body, and Jongho stiffened.

His heart beat so fast that a heart-attack wasn't far away. He was immobilized with the fear, and when Seonghwa pressed Jongho's face against his chest and ran a hand through his hair, he couldn't even breathe properly. His inhales and exhales came out choked and wheezing, as if he was being choked. But he wasn't.

"You're the new obsession of mine, Detective." Was all Seonghwa whispered to his ear before he let go of Jongho, swiped away the tears on his cheeks with his thumbs and left the apartment.

Jongho stood there, trembling and shaking, a sob finally leaving his mouth before he crumbled down to the floor.

He was absolutely terrified. Of Seonghwa, of his puppets, of death, of killers, and under all that, of himself. Because he had actually enjoyed being held against Seonghwa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! How did you like the chapter?
> 
> Like i said in my twitter, today’s chapter came much later because i had a huge celebration i had to attend. Now i was finally able to proofread this for the last time and post it.
> 
> How many of you guessed correctly? That the guards helped Seonghwa escape? How many of you know who the guards are?
> 
> Any theories of what is happening next?
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/cloudyjjongie?s=21) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/Cloudyjongho)


	4. The monster inside me

It had been eight weeks since Seonghwa's escape. Jongho's hands were full of work, he still had to rewrite and handle more papers about the escape, and now the government had also started breathing down his neck. They kept on pressuring him to find Seonghwa, but they didn't certainly seem to understand just how difficult finding a serial killer with literally no info about his whereabouts was. It was nearly impossible.

He understood the worry the government had, because there was a serial killer walking down the streets of Seoul like he was a normal working young man. Jongho knew they would have to eventually make an arrest warrant of Seonghwa, but he wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. 

He hadn't told anyone about the meeting with Seonghwa. Why? Because he was too ashamed. 

He was a detective for fuck's sake, yet he had become too terrified to shoot a serial killer. No one would appreciate hearing that. Jongho trusted Keonhee with his life, but he would talk about it to him later. Hwanwoong was another person Jongho would mention it, because he probably understood Jongho. Keonhee was hard on the outside like a stone, so he would probably just be surprised and a bit disappointed at how Jongho couldn't even fire a gun at a person that had killed hundreds of humans. Reportedly.

The feeling of being hugged by Seonghwa still haunted him. 

Knowing the road his life had been going until now, it shouldn't have surprised Jongho when he once again woke up to his phone ringing, this time at 2 in the morning.

He took the phone and answered a weak Choi Jongho, his voice cracking.

"Put your clothes on. We have another hint of where Seonghwa is from the anonymous person. If you want to come with us to arrest him, be here in 15." Jiho's voice said, and the conversation ended. Very typical.

Jongho just laid on the bed for a few seconds, his brains working to handle the information. Then he jumped up, took a new pair of pants and a shirt before pulling them on. He tied he tie, put the gun holsters on and took everything he needed before rushing to put on his shoes.

He was about to leave when he saw his own reflection, and quickly ran to bathroom to wet his hands and put his hair down. After that he ran out, not caring if he slammed the door shut too loudly and hopped down the stairs faster than Usain Bolt.

His car roared when Jongho sped on the highway, which was thankfully pretty empty. He hoped there were no patrolling units, because he didn't have time to stop and explain that he had a serial killer to arrest.

Jongho pressed the brake and pulled on his jacket before running out of the car to Jiho who was standing beside the military car they would be using.

"You're just on time. Hop in." Jiho said, taking the shotgun, and Jongho joined the officers.

They were all dressed up with bulletproof vests and the uniforms, and each one of them hugged an assault rifle. Jesus, they weren't playing around.

"Why didn't you tell me to take my bulletproof vest?" Jongho asked Jiho through his police radio.

"Because you're not going in." 

"What? Going in where? What are you talking about?" Jongho asked, furrowing his brows. It was literally his case, why wouldn't he go in?

"He's in an abandoned house, probably holding a meeting or something." 

Jongho fell quiet. Unbelievable. Jiho couldn't decide things like this without Jongho! The case was his!

"You know that i want to help." He spoke up.

"Yes. It's your case, i know, but you're a detective, not part of the Flying Tigers." Jiho commented, his voice leaving no space for arguments.

Jongho glanced at the logos on the soldiers' arms. They indeed were the Flying Tigers, South Korea's 3rd Special forces brigade.

"Why is... why is Flying Tiger involved?" Jongho asked. 

"Because according to the anonymous message, we might have pretty difficult time getting him out." Jiho answered and turned off his phone, probably annoyed of Jongho's questions.

Jongho sighed, massaging his face. Why wasn't he informed about anything in this? It felt like he was being treated like a kid again. He wasn't a kid, he was a grown man and this was his fucking case.

The car drove forward and the Flying Tiger's members gave him a pitying look.

"Jesus fucking christ." Jongho murmured, hitting his head on the wall behind him as they drove through a small pit.

He closed his eyes to gain some sanity again. If he continued to stare at the huge guns he would probably snap and shoot someone with one of them.

What?

No. What the fuck? What was going on inside his mind? What had made him think like that?

Jongho's heart jumped to his throat but he forced it back to his chest, and tried to think about something else so the anxiety wouldn't have space inside his mind. The last thing he needed now was to have some kind of attack. But the tight feeling spread inside his chest quickly, and his brains refused to think about anything else than that comment he had made inside his head.

Jongho was slowly going crazy.

Thank god the car stopped and the doors opened, so Jongho jumped out and looked around. He could see the house, but they were hidden behind a thick part of a forest. The place was straight from a horror movie. Far from city, surrounded by a forest. No one probably knew about this, because what was out of sight, was also out of mind. 

"What is your great plan?" Jongho asked, trying very hard to keep his voice clear of annoyance, but his words gave it away and Jiho sighed.

"Forcing them to give Seonghwa. But Jongho, i know this annoys you but I need to keep you alive. You're a gem, one of the best detectives I know, so letting you go there isn't an option."

Jongho bit his lower lip and sighed, nodding.

"Okay. Yeah. But if something doesn't go according to the plan and Park tries to escape, I'm running after him, with or without the vest. You should know that." Jongho said, and Jiho looked at him like he was about to say something, but decided against it.

The Flying Tiger's members besieged the house, and Jongho sighed. The car they had come here with drove right to the front of the house, as well as the other cars. They were used as a shield if someone started shooting.

It wasn't his first situation like this. But it was always as scary and nerve-wrecking as going to the huge rollercoaster for the first time.

Jiho spoke to his radio.  
"Flying Tigers, ready."

Then he took the mic connected to the big speaker on top of one of the cars and began talking;

"You're surrounded. Special forces with snipers are waiting for you outside." He started.

"Park Seonghwa, come outside with your hands up."

Jongho rolled his eyes. That wouldn't help. How did they know what was going on inside? The people inside had nothing to talk to them with. What if they had a hostage? They wouldn't know that.

So Jongho broke his promise to Jiho, and slowly, carefully walked away from him. Jiho was so busy threatening the people inside, especially Seonghwa, that he didn't even see Jongho leaving.

He walked slowly to the other side of the house, eyeing the wall for a door. When he finally found one, he glanched back and walked to the door carefully.

The members of Flying Tiger were all staring at him with wide eyes, some of them asking him to move with their hands. Jongho just pressed his index finger against his lips, sent everyone a glare and tried to open the door. He was technically the boss of the Tiger's now, so technically they had to obey him. But just technically.

Jongho didn't lie, having a dozen assault riffles on him wasn't the best feeling, so he wanted to get inside quickly. Even if going inside didn't feel that good either.

Thank god the door wasn't locked, so he opened it carefully just the amount to fit his body in. The Tigers kept their mouths shut and let Jongho go inside.

It was dark. Very, very dark. There was only one broken lamp that reflected yellow light into the long hallway he was in. He had to be careful and as quiet as a dead person, otherwise his story was over.

He could hear someone speaking, but it was very far away. The voice echoed slightly in the house.

It was definitely an abandoned house. The floor was broken and very vulnerable in some places, so Jongho had to take really careful steps. He kept his eyes strictly on the floor, and took very calculated steps. His heart beat fast, and he took one last step before taking out his police radio and pressing it on.

"Please don't say anything" He whispered to it, as quiet as possible. 

It cracked a little, so Jongho turned it off and held his breath. Fortunately for him, the persons inside the room hadn't heard it and he dared to take a step forward. He almost let out a yelp when Jiho's voice came again from the huge speakers.

"Park Seonghwa, come out with your hands up!"

The people inside the house started laughing loudly. They were almost choking, and the sound of their laughter sent chills down Jongho's spine. It was all wicked and sick. He had known, the threats Jiho made had no effect in these men.

Jongho turned his radio carefully on when someone began speaking. They would have some evidence and some way of hearing whatever the killers were talking about.

"Do they really think Seonghwa walks there and waves a white flag?" Someone said with a smug voice.

Jongho pursed his lips to a thin line when they laughed even more.

"I can't believe they actually took the Flying Tigers with them here." Someone else commented.

Jongho heard Seonghwa's low chuckle.

"Please, this is an honour. All those special force snipers and agents, just for me." Seonghwa said, and Jongho took a step closer. He was about three meters from the door to the room.

"Come out, Park Seonghwa." Jiho's voice came again, and Jongho rolled his eyes again. All he did was ask him to come out. That didn't work.

Thank god they had stayed quiet. If someone began talking to Jongho, it would be the end of him. They had either heard the news from the Flying Tiger members or Jongho's plead. Jiho was probably pissed as hell right now.

"You know, they have gotten a lot weaker. They're talking to me like to a kid, and they didn't even check Yunho's and San's ID's when they came to the interrogation room."

Jongho's eyes widened. Yunho and San. Aries and Cancer. Which one was which?

"Do you think the cute cop is out there?" Someone asked. 

Jongho peeked from the little gap beside the door hinge. He could barely see anything because he was so far away, so he took two really, really careful steps. Now that he was closer he saw the blue haired man.

"Ahh, the detective? I sure hope so." Seonghwa said, and chuckled.  
"He's absolutely adorable."

Jongho was about to get closer when someone stood up and footsteps came closer to the door. He quickly squatted and pressed himself against the wall, hoping that the shadow of the door hid him well enough. 

Someone came out of the door and walked to the opposite direction. Jongho saw the back of that man, and he let out the breath he had held in silently. His heart was about to burst out. Adrenaline circulated inside his veins, and he could feel the a bit too fast pace of his heart in his head.

He leaned closer to the hinges again and peeked inside. It was so dark that the people inside weren't able to see him, not even if they stared straight at him. 

He saw six men in total. He started to learn the faces, and tried to draw a good picture of them in his mind.

That's when a hand grabbed him by his neck and pulled him back. Jongho tried to scramble up and tear himself away, but the man holding him was fast and strong, so he basically lifted Jongho up by his neck. Jongho's breath hitched and he still refused to let out a noise, hoping that the man behind him was Jiho or someone else. But he definitely wasn't, because he was being dragged to the room. Jongho tried to resist with his combat skills and slow down the journey, but that was all equal to empty. What he had feared for the most was happening; he was dragged inside the room.

Jongho didn't even have time to look up, because he was thrown to the floor. 

"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear." Someone commented, and Jongho just scrambled up quickly, hesitantly facing the people in the room. He refused to look at Seonghwa, though.

"To be honest, I'm not surprised." The blue haired man said, and Jongho swallowed. 

He was doomed. No, forget that, he was absolutely fucked. 

"Atleast now we have a ticket to get us out of here."  
Someone else said, and Jongho lifted his chin high to look at Seonghwa.

Jongho was almost shaking from the amount of adrenaline in his blood. Atleast that's what he told himself. He wasn't shaking because of fear, no, not at all.

Seonghwa was staring at Jongho with an impressed face. But what got Jongho's attention was the dark roots emerging from the otherwise blonde locks. Of course, he hadn't had time to dye his hair when hiding from police. Even outgrown roots suit him, what was this man? Who had made him?

"You really are good at your job. You solved Wooseok's murder and got my name and picture just like that, and now you managed to sneak all the way here."

Jongho looked for words inside his head, his cheeks feeling a bit hot because of the seven pairs of eyes on him. He still needed to find a way out of this situation, so he had to play his cards wisely.

Jongho finally found the words. He was going to play it kind of dumb but still smart and confident.

"Yeah. But to be honest, I have no fucking idea what to do now. I didn't think this far."

That made everyone else than Jongho in the room laugh. Atleast they had fun. Jongho had the gun hidden under his jacket, but he couldn't just pull it out when he was in a room with seven men.

"I'm going to help you with that." Seonghwa said, and stood up.

Jongho's heart jumped to his throat and he squeezed his hands to tight fists. Why couldn't his fucking heart calm down? Why was it racing? Why was his face getting hotter?

Don't fucking come closer, Seonghwa.

Come closer. Come closer and touch me like you touch the dead bodies of yours. Pin me against the wall. Kiss my neck.

Jongho's eyes widened in fear. He took a step back, his mind racing. He had not just fucking thought that.

What his mother warned him about was happening. Was it? It was. 

His mother had warned him about becoming a detective. She had told Jongho that "Once you see murder, death, and blood for long enough, you're going to normalize it. Your own mind is going to betray you."

Why was seeing mutilated bodies so normal to his brains? Why was seeing this serial killer becoming a want rather than fear? Last night he had been paralyzed with fear. He had told himself it was fear for his life. But what if he had really feared himself? His own self, that was turning in to a monster.

Jongho didn't even realise he was breathing harder until he snapped out of it and recognized Seonghwa standing in front of him.

"I'm going to help you, Jongho..." Seonghwa whispered, and swiped Jongho's cheek with his thumb. Seonghwa moved quickly, and took Jongho to a strangehold. 

Jongho hadn't reacted fast enough, but that woke Jongho up. He began resisting.

"Let... go!" Jongho gasped, but Seonghwa's other hand just caressed his hair.

Jongho tried everything. His body looked like it was spasming, and Jongho's teeth were gritted together from the strength he tried to gather to his wiggles.

"Shh... don't be scared. I'm just making things easier for you."

Seonghwa grabbed Jongho's radio phone, and pressed the button before speaking;

"Good evening officers, detectives and the special force Flying Tiger. I am delighted to report, that I have your precious detective here, pressed right against me, slowly running out of air."

Jongho resisted again, which made Seonghwa yank his hair a bit. Jongho whimpered at the aching pain in his scalp. 

Seonghwa's hold wasn't too strong. He was definitely running out of air, but not that fast. But if he didn't go crazy because of not getting enough air, he was going to go crazy because of the fucking good scent Seonghwa carried.

"What do you want, Park?" Came Jiho's voice.

"I want you to let six men exit the building in peace, without touching any of them. Without taking photos of their faces." Seonghwa said calmly.

It was silent for a while, before Jiho answered.

"Is that all? If we let them go, do you let Jongho go?"

Jongho could feel the muscles against his back flex and the chest tremble a bit when Seonghwa chuckled.

"Of course, officer."

"Ask your men to get out, then."

The six men stood up, saluted mockingly in front of Jongho, and left the room to go out.

"You better not try anything funny Jiho, otherwise Jongho," He paused to taste the name on his tongue. Jongho's name rolled off so well, that Jongho needed to swallow. 

Jiho had used Jongho's name. Seonghwa already knew where he lived, so knowing his name was nothing, but Jongho would've still preferred having that card of dominance. He had used it in the first interrogation, he could've used it again.

"Jongho here, leaning against me so prettily like he should be, is going to... well, die."

Jongho heard Jiho inhale sharply.

"Of course." Jiho answered.

He heard loud laughter. Seonghwa's men had probably walked past them.

"Jongho?" Jiho asked.

"Yeah?" Jongho rasped out. He was running out of air and saying anything was hard. The lack of oxygen was enough to make his head spin. But he had to keep himself composed.

"Let him go." Jiho said to Seonghwa.

"Hmm, I don't think I'm going to. I'm taking him with me."

That's when Jongho let go of Seonghwa's arms he had been trying to pull of, took his gun out of the secret holster under his jacket and swung out his hand as fast as possible, hitting Seonghwa's head with it. Seonghwa cursed and let go of Jongho, who used that chance and span around to point Seonghwa with the gun.

"Don't fucking move. This time I'm shooting you for real." Jongho hissed, and heard people barge inside.

Seonghwa looked calm. Way too calm. He lifted his hands up. His eyes stayed on Jongho, and a small smile rose to his face.

"We see again, Jiho." Seonghwa said and smirked when Jiho came to stand next to Jongho.

"Yes. I would say it's pleasure to meet you again, but it's not."

Seonghwa didn't even resist when two officers came to cuff him. His eyes stayed on Jongho, though.

"I told you to fucking stay back, Jongho! Are you fucking insane? You don't even have a bulletproof vest and you sneak inside a house full of killers!" Jiho said to him as he turned arount to meet Jongho.

"What else would you have done? We weren't going to win." Jongho answered back and began walking out.

"You just put your life in line." Jiho said, walking right behind him.

Jongho glanced at Seonghwa from the corner of his eye. He was getting dragged towards a police car.

"Isn't that what I do daily?" Jongho answered.

"Jongho." Jiho warned.

Jongho glanced at him.

"Atleast we got him. Isn't that what matters?" Jongho asked, and climbed to the car.

The doors got slammed shut and the sat down on the seat again.

"Hey. Thanks for not stopping me from going inside." He said to the members of the Flying Tiger.

"No need to thank us, mate. I knew nothing would happen if you didn't go." One of them answered, and Jongho smiled.

They had arrested Seonghwa succesfully. Amazing.

Jongho leaned against the seat better and closed his eyes. His mind took his back to the moment when he had been pressed against Seonghwa's warm chest and inhaled in his scent. Seonghwa had smelled so good.

When they got back to the headquarters, he walked to his and Keonhee's places and took Seonghwa's files. He was going to interrogate him again.

That's when he realised something, and called Dongju, putting his phone on speaker.

"Hey, Dongju. Is there anything that makes all three victims of Mars related somehow? Kim Wooseok, Kim Yohan and Han Seungwoo?" Jongho asked, sitting down again.

He heard Dongju type something on his computer for a while, before he spoke up.

"Okay, this is interesting. One of Han Seungwoo's emergency contacts is Kim Yohan. One of Kim Yohan's is Kim Wooseok." 

Jongho nodded. Just like he had thought.

"What about Wooseok?"

"His is... Song Hyeongjun." Dongju answered.

"Thank you, Dongju. Really." Jongho cut off the call, and called Jiho.

"We need to put Song Hyeongjun to victim protection. Immediately."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi and happy saturday once again!
> 
> How are you? And how did you like this chapter? It was pretty full of action, right? But i know y’all like it hahahah. I do too. We only have two more weeks to go! Two more chapters🥺 that is so sad. This story is my baby.
> 
> I have the next one coming too. I think i’m a bit over half way done right now. Anyways! Yeah! Hahahah i love saturdays.
> 
> Thank you for reading❤️
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/cloudyjjongie?s=21) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/Cloudyjongho)


	5. Think baby, think

"Jongho, he's ready to be interrogated." 

Jongho walked to the observation room and smiled at Seoho. He had began to look like his normal self again. Seoho had looked tired and pale after Taeil's and Jaehyo's murders, which was very understandable.

Jongho glanced at Seonghwa through the one way window. He looked calm again. Why did he look so calm? It made no sense.

What Jongho noticed was the constant swallowing Seonghwa did. He furrowed his brows and grabbed a new bottle of water from his bag before placing the said bag on the floor and taking the file. 

Swallowing could mean being nervous, but it could also mean thirst. Seonghwa definitely wasn't nervous.

Jongho walked to the door and turned to look at Seoho.

"Someone has checked their ID's, right?" Jongho asked, pointing at the officers inside the interrogation room.

Seohi nodded and smiled a bit.  
"Yeah. We're not making the same mistake today."

Jongho smiled back and opened the door, holding it open and looking at the officers. They left, knowing what Jongho meant. 

It was easier to talk and focus when there weren't any extras inside. Both for Jongho and Seonghwa.

"Good morning, Mr. Park." Jongho greeted Seonghwa as he sat down.

"Good morning, Jongho. You look cute as fuck in those glasses." Seonghwa answered, smiling a bit. Wickedly. 

Jongho lifted his brow. Seonghwa enjoyed using Jongho's first name because he knew all too well that Jongho didn't want him to do it. Or did he?

"On the first name basis?" Jongho asked.

"Well, I want to call you by your name, and you refused to tell me your last name." Seonghwa said and leaned closer.

Why was he cuffed? He didn't need them. 

"So if I tell you my last name, which you definitely already know, you'll call me Detective?" Jongho asked.

"Gladly." Seonghwa smirked, those lively eyes of his twinkling.

"Choi." Jongho said and opened the file.

"Choi Jongho. Detective Choi. Fits perfectly." Seonghwa tried again.

"Let's start for real now. First of all," Jongho said and reached for the water bottle he had placed on the floor and gave it to Seonghwa.

Seonghwa lifted his brow.  
"Why?"

"Because you're thirsty." Jongho answered.

"How do you know?" Seonghwa asked.

"I saw you swallowing more than one needs to." Jongho simply stated and opened the bottle before placing it on the table.

"Aaw, you opened it for me!" Seonghwa faked excitement, but took the bottle and started drinking. He was indeed thirsty.

Jongho was supposed to read one of the questions now while Seonghwa was distracted, but that exactly had him distracted. The way Seonghwa's adam's apple moved when he swallowed was enough to get Jongho's mind working and cheeks heating up.

Shit. No. No fucking way. He wasn't going to blush while interrogating a serial killer.

Serial killer he had a crush on.

Jongho's brains malfunctioned after that sentence.

Jongho swallowed and licked his lips, and still stared at Seonghwa, who was staring at him with eyebrows rised and mouth twisted in a smirk.

"You seem rather distracted today, Detective."

That's when Jongho snapped out of it, cleared his throat and set his eyes on the file.

"I blame the lack of sleep." 

Seonghwa hummed, placing the empty bottle on the table.

"How would you describe yourself?" Jongho started. He tried to seek for any hints of narcissism.

"Myself?" Seonghwa repeated.

Jongho nodded, waiting for him to answer. Seonghwa leaned against the back of the chair better and brought his cuffed hands to his face, where he caressed the blunt starts of a beard. The hairs hadn't grown, that meant that he had shaved yesterday. But where? The mansion didn't have running water.

"A gentleman." 

"A gentleman?" Jongho repeated, lifting his brows up and looking at Seonghwa through his glasses.

"Yeah. You know how men these days are. Horny and arrogant as fuck." 

Jongho nodded slowly and wrote it down.

"Why are you a gentleman?" He asked.

"Because i don't fuck around like a horse. I don't treat others, especially women, like they are shit. I don't want to fuck everyone around me." Seonghwa started.

So he respected women. That was new. Maybe that was the reason he only killed men? 

"Of course, there is an exception." Seonghwa continued, and didn't even try to hide how his eyes raked through Jongho while licking his lips.  
"That I would like the fuck."

Jongho stared back at him, and bit the inside of his cheek. He fighted to keep himself calm and composed, he really did, but no one had ever really talked about him like they wanted him. 

Jongho played it strong now. He let himself check Seonghwa out before he smiled a bit and looked down at the file to pretend writing something down. The blush that had taken over his cheeks was thankfully disappearing.

"Your escape. Who were the ones with you?" Jongho changed the topic and looked up again.

"You already know their names, don't you?"

"Yes. I just want confirmation." Jongho said.

"You won't get it. Think baby, think. Which names did you hear?" Seonghwa said, and Jongho ignored the nickname, barely keeping his cheeks healthy pale.

"Let's move forward then. Where did you go after you escaped?" Jongho asked. He wanted to get this done as quickly as possible.

"To your apartment."

"Immediately?" Jongho's brows rose all the way to his hairline.

"Yes." Seonghwa answered, leaning back and taking a more comfortable position on the chair.

"Okay. How did you even know where I lived?"

"I have a good team. Nothing is impossible for us."

Jongho held back the sigh. He had had connection to outside, and he had also known Jongho's name from the first moment, but wanted Jongho to say it.

Someone knocked on the window, and Jongho finally understood why. Seonghwa had casually mentioned the meeting at Jongho's apartment, but no one else knew about it. That made Jongho's heart skip a beat.

Jongho lifted his hand up to push the round glasses better on. His hand trembled. What was Jiho going to say? He was going to get chewed alive.

"Not now Seoho, I'll explain later." He said, knowing Seoho was listening. Jongho could barely focus. They knew now.

"Oh? They don't know?" Seonghwa asked.

Jongho wanted to kill this man. To fucking choke him until he passed out, to watch how the life left his body. But he also wanted to pull Seonghwa on top of him and kiss him until they were both out of breath. He wanted to get all those pretty marks that would make him Seonghwa's.

Anxiety began to build inside him again, and his chest felt too tight. The thoughts and the feeling in his chest made him want to wither around, to run around the room to calm down. But he was in the middle of an interrogation right now.

Seonghwa probably saw something change in his behavior or something, because his eyes hardened and he turned to glare at the one way mirror.

Jongho forced himself to breath and calm down. He changed the topic quickly;

"About your friends, is San the blue haired?" Jongho asked, looking Seonghwa straight to his eyes. 

"You know, I can reveal bits of myself, but I'm sorry honey, I can't tell anything about my friends. It just doesn't work like that." Seonghwa said, and actually sounded sorry.

Maybe he knew that if Jongho didn't find something out today that would have the whole department going crazy, his neck would be the victim of a guillotine. Jiho would chew off his head for not telling about Seonghwa's and his little meeting.

"How does one join your cult?" Jongho asked.

"It's very simple. I find them."

"You find them?" Jongho asked.

"If someone is interested about me and my... works of art, I will find them sooner or later." Seonghwa answered.

"When is the last time you found someone?"

"Hmm, they haven't joined me yet, but I think it has been eight weeks." 

"They? Are they non-binary?" Jongho asked, writing that down. So anyone could join the cult, it didn't depend on their gender.

"No. I said it like that for his own best, but if you want to know, I met him for the first time eight weeks ago."

The gears inside Jongho's head turned, and his heartbeat sped up. Was he talking about Jongho?

"Have you kept in touch with him?" He continued to ask because he couldn't let Seoho or other detectives realise the same.

"Hmm... not actively. We have only met few times. But he's very capable of joining."

Seonghwa was definitely talking about him. He was definitely talking about Jongho. 

He really wanted Jongho to join? 

Did Jongho really have the potential to do all that? To stand beside Seonghwa and murder humans? Could he do that?

It was so hard. It was so fucking hard because his stupid fucking heart decided to start fancying a killer. A murderer.

Jongho was scared. He was so damn scared of what was happening to him. He was clearly changing into the monster his mother had warned him about. He had started normalizing killing.

"Are you or your friends planning on killing someone?" Jongho asked.

"I do have a new victim."

That was enough to make Jongho perk up.

"Really? Who?"

"Someone who was very precious and special to Kim Wooseok." Seonghwa answered, smirking again.

Jongho froze. He turned to look at the window and prayed that Jiho had gotten in touch with Song Hyeongjun.

"What are your plans with them?" Jongho asked once he had turned back again.

"San helped me a little. My plan is to make sure he runs out of air and fills up with water." 

Jongho squeezed the pen harder in his hand. He didn't like the feelings that were going around inside him.

"How much time does he have?" Jongho asked.

"What's the time?" Seonghwa asked, leaning forward again.

"Half past five in the morning." Jongho said after glancing at his wrist watch.

"You have two and a half hours left." Seonghwa answered.

"What happens then?" Jongho asked, writing the time down.

"They drop him, and he sinks to the bottom. The cold water slowly, painfully makes his limbs stiffen. His lungs fill up with water, his weak little heart gives up and he goes to his precious Wooseok." Seonghwa said, a wicked smile covering his beautiful lips.

Jongho hated himself for wanting to see that. He hated, he absolutely despised himself. He wanted to rip his hair off and jump out of a window.

"Where does this happen?" Jongho asked, keeping himself composed. He was a professional. But despite looking calm, his insides twisted.

"Han river. Somewhere there." Seonghwa said and smirked.

Jongho stood up, and waved with his hands. The officers came and uncuffed Seonghwa from the table before cuffing him with normal cuffs again. Jongho walked out of the interrogation room, the officers and Seonghwa trailing right after him.

He shouldn't have been surprised when Jiho and Seoho walked to him immediately. He just hadn't wanted Seonghwa to see it. But he was going to walk Seonghwa to his cell.

"Jongho, what the fuck?" Seoho asked, and Jongho just ignored him and walked past him and to the hallway. The two of them followed him.

"Jongho!" Jiho said and ran after him. Jongho just led the two officers and Seonghwa down the hallway.

But Jiho grabbed him by his shoulder and span him around.

"What the fuck, Jongho? What is wrong with you? Why didn't you tell us?" Jiho asked.

Jongho glanced at the two officers and Seonghwa quickly before sighing.

"Not now, okay? I'll explain once we get him in the cell." Jongho said.

"No, they can get him there themselves. You need to explain to me right now!" Jiho exclaimed, pulling Jongho from his hand.

Jongho yanked his hand away.

"And let him escape again? Not on my watch, Jiho."

Jiho was fuming. As embarrassing as it was to fight in front of Seonghwa, he wouldn't let two strangers take a serial killer away if he didn't know them.

"Jongho." Jiho hissed, and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt.

Jongho let him. Was his boss going to punch him? Probably. He didn't care. 

"Let go of him." A third voice joined the conversation. Jongho turned his head to look at Seonghwa, who was glaring at Jiho so angrily that Jongho shivered.

"Let go of him, or you'll regret it." Seonghwa continued growling, and trashed. The officers kept him still.

Jiho just chuckled and let go.

"Okay, Jongho. Go escort your friend to his cell and then come to me. I'm giving this case to someone else."

Jongho felt his heart drop and mind fill up with anger. This was his case!

But he just chuckled. He just chuckled.

"Of fucking course. Once things don't go exactly like Woo Jiho wants to, he gives the case away. Have fun finding Song Hyeongjun. Once you find him, he's already dead." Jongho started.

"You guys are fucked without me, and you know it. What happened right after the Yang case? Things went shit, didn't they? By taking this case away from a person who actually understands how a killer's brains work, you're going to start another wave of murders." He continued, a smile rising on his face.

"I want to see this police department work without me. Your detectives are shit. If they can't solve a robbery, how do you expect them to solve a case that includes dozens of murders?" Jongho still continued. The hallway was quiet.

"I'd like to see your face, Woo Jiho, after you kick me out. I'm looking forward to hearing you beg me to come back. Without me, you wouldn't have Seonghwa here. Without me, this fucking police department is doomed." 

Jongho was silent for a while before speaking up for the last time;  
"But without you and this department, I wouldn't have that ugly, twenty centimeters long and five centimeters deep scar on my side. I wouldn't have constant nightmares that keep me up every FUCKING NIGHT! So have fun begging me back." Jongho snapped and turned around, walking down the hallway. 

The officers and Seonghwa followed him silently.

Jongho knew his breathing was erratic and eyes moist, but he just kept himself up and opened a door to the officers.

They walked through many hallways, until they arrived at the cell reserved for Seonghwa. One of the officers opened the cell, took Seonghwa's cuffs off and let him walk inside.

They were about to close the door when Jongho held it open himself and casted a glare at the officers.

The police officers didn't know what to do, but they did take a few steps backwards so Jongho returned his eyes on Seonghwa.

"What if I find Hyeongjun?" Jongho asked.

He didn't know why was he asking that. He really didn't. But he had to ask.

"Then you find him. I'm not mad if you do, darling." Seonghwa answered, sitting down.  
"I gave the information myself. And my friends know better than to stop you."

Jongho nodded and hesitated a bit. Why was he still standing there?

"Okay." Was all he said before he closed the large metallic door and started walking away.

He still had a little bit over two hours left, so he started running. He ran to the observation room, took his bag and ran to his car.

He didn't know what part of Han river was the correct place, but he had a feeling that it was some harbour. It had to be.

Jongho pressed his foot on the gas and let the engine roar before he took off. If he had to search the whole Han river, he had to be fast. He had two hours left.

He selected the nearest harbour and drove towards it. The faster he found Hyeongjun, the better. The boy was probably scared as hell. 

But finding that exact spot was hard. He had limited information that didn't really help at all, and the other detectives at his department would've already given up, but Jongho was determinent. 

He wanted to save that innocent life. But half of his mind didn't because what if the boy was happier in heaven with Wooseok? What if he wanted to die more than live?

Jongho jumped out at the first harbour and began running. He only saw some empty ships, but otherwise there wasn't even a soul. Jongho checked every building and spot someone could be hiding in, but it was empty. So Jongho ran back to his car and began driving again.

He drove and checked every damn harbour that he saw a sign of, but every single one of them were empty, or so busy that murdering someone wasn't really possible.

He changed his route completely after googling some harbours. This one wasn't working anymore, so it seemed like a place someone would kill humans at.

Jongho sped on the highway, staying wary of cops, because now he had no case to justify his actions with. So he kept his eyes open and speed fast.

He drummed his fingers against the steering wheel. He had five minutes left of the time. Jongho began to feel anxious and disappointed. His heart beat fast.

However, when he got to the harbour, he saw people. It was supposed to be empty, but it wasn't, so he was clearly at the right spot.

Jongho jumped out of his car and glanced at his watch. He had one minute left.

Jongho sprinted. He saw something at the edge of the pier, that was a square. A big square. Probably some kind of safe. Poor Hyeongjun was inside it. That fueled his legs even more and he ran. God, he ran faster than he had ever done. But he was so, so far away. 

Jongho was panting and gasping for air, but he ran and ran.

He had fifteen seconds left and he was atleast 100 meters away.

Jongho forced his legs to run faster, so fast that he almost toppled over. The men on the pier were watching him, but did nothing to stop him, just like Seonghwa had said.

He had three seconds left.

Three.

Two.

One.

Just as Jongho reached for the chain that was attached to the safe and was about to yell in happiness that he had saved Hyeongjun, the clock striked eight and the safe was dropped to the deep bottom of the river. His fingers touched the chain, but hand grasped emptiness.

Jongho watched it sink. He was out of breath, he felt frustrated, angry, sad, disappointed and absolutely devastated.

Jongho's legs gave out and he fell to the ground, his ass taking the hit. He had failed. He had just failed and that cost Hyeongjun his life. The poor boy would've been safe now if Jongho had been a second faster, a step ahead. But he had been too late, and it was all over.

Jongho had failed the case. It was yanked away from him just like that, but he couldn't even succeed at saving a life. He was a complete disappointment, and couldn't even walk back to his workplace because of all things he had said.

But he had to. He still had some paperwork he had to do of today's interrogation before he could close the case, atleast with his name. Someone else would take it and try to be better than Jongho.

Actually, Jongho was a bit relieved. He had been torn between his job and his feelings, but now that he didn't need to investigate Seonghwa's stuff he didn't feel that conflicted. Of course, a part of him screamed that what the fuck was going on inside his head, why did he have a crush on a killer? But somehow his chest felt lighter.

Jongho stood up, turning around and facing the six males who were staring at him. The blue haired and the other so-called police officer, Yunho and San. Another tall man, three shorter ones. 

Jongho just sighed and began walking away.

"Why? You're not going to arrest us, Detective?"  
One of them asked with a sickly sweet voice. He had black hair and a bandana.

"Not my case anymore. I'm not interested in doing anything for that case, I'm not going to help them. So you can be calm and walk away." He answered, walking.

The men stayed quiet, and when Jongho was finally back at his car, he just jumped in and started driving back.

He had to do a decision. Was he going to continue in there? Jiho wouldn't trust him anymore, but to be honest, Jongho didn't trust him either. He hadn't trusted him after the Yang case, but he had had to act like he did. For the sake of his job. Now he didn't give a fuck anymore.

After driving for a while, he had a plan for tomorrow. He was going to do it, no matter how it ended up going. No matter what was the aftermath of it, he was going to do it.

Jongho definitely wasn't going to stay there. He didn't want to spend his time with those toxic people that didn't give a fuck about anything else than working. They hadn't given a fuck about Jongho after the Yang case. They started giving a fuck when Jongho was back on tracks again and solving murderies. It was disappointing, but he could handle it.

He wouldn't do shit for Jiho anymore. That man needed to start learning how to get actually good detectivies after Jongho called his career a day.

Fuck them. Jongho was done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> How did you like the chapter?
> 
> Jongho was able to understand Seonghwa’s masterplan... but at what cost? Dude’s in love with a serial killer.
> 
> Next week we have the grand finale. The ending. It shouldn’t be anything you can predict. 
> 
> What is the Yang case? What does Jiho have to do with it? You’ll know next week.
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/cloudyjjongie?s=21) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/Cloudyjongho)


	6. Cuff me up, lock me in (your heart)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The grande finale.

Jongho walked inside the headquarters, biting his lower lip. He walked straight to his desk and sat down. He didn't have any work to do anymore, so he was just waiting for Jiho to call him to have a talk. A talk of what happened yesterday, which Jongho was not looking forward to.

Jongho didn't have to wait for long before the said man walked to him and asked to follow.

Jongho walked behind Jiho, his stomach feeling very weird. If he did this now, it was all over. He was maybe throwing his life away by doing this, but what was there to loose? Nothing.

"Sit down, Jongho." Jiho said and sat down.

Jongho complied and sat down, staying quiet.

"I gave the case to Minhyuk. But don't feel down about it. You'll have plenty of other cases, I can give you anything you want to." Jiho started, and Jongho almost let a scoff out. Almost.

"What was the reason?" He asked.

"You left out an extremely important thing, Jongho. You didn't tell us Park had visited your home."

Jongho just nodded. His trained face gave no emotions out, even if he was angry on the inside. He wasn't going to explain anything since he had already lost the case. Even if he wanted to scream his head off.

"In the future, tell us." Jiho said, staring at Jongho until he nodded. He was making sure Jongho knew who was the boss and who the detective, since Jongho had started to act a bit too freely.

"Now, what case would you like to have?" Jiho continued, a small smile on his face.

Now or never. 

"About that..." Jongho started, biting his lower lip hard.

"I quit." 

Jiho's face fell.  
"What?"

He knew they weren't going to survive for long without Jongho.

"I quit. I feel like this department isn't my place anymore. I'd rather seek for another kind of adventures somewhere else." Jongho explained, voice trembling a bit.

Jiho was quiet. Suddenly he looked sad. Really sad. He pressed his lips to a tight line and looked away for a while.

"I... I understand. I'll give good recommendations to you."

Jongho felt something in his throat, blocking his windpipe. No. He wouldn't cry.

"I'm really sorry." Jongho said as he stood up, and placed the electric key of his on the table.

Jiho stood up too, and opened his arms. Jongho hesitated, but hugged him for the last time he could. Now it was over. Even if the last months with Jiho had been hard, he was still Jiho. Even if he was an asshole.

"Don't be. If you spot me somewhere, please come say hi." Jiho said, patting Jongho's back.

Jongho gritted his teeth together. He didn't want to cry. But even if he had hatred for this depertment... it still hurt him. He felt like he was leaving a piece of himself behind.

Jongho separated from Jiho, and stepped back, smiling sadly a bit. Neither of them said anything, so Jongho just waved and walked to the door slowly. He pressed the handle down, hesitating a bit, but opened the door.

"Jongho?" Jiho called.

"Yeah?" Jongho turned his head to look at Jiho. He gulped and fought against the tears.

"I'm sorry for not protecting you well enough back then. I'm sorry for the scar and the nightmares." Jiho whispered, voice raw with emotions and eyes full with tears.

Jongho's face crumbled and tears welled in his eyes. Jiho had been regretting it. He had been suffering because of what he caused. That broke Jongho on the inside.

He decided to forgive Jiho, because no matter what, he could never live with regret.

"Humans make mistakes. You're a human too, Jiho. Don't overwork yourself."

And after that, Jongho was out. He heard Jiho sob. Jongho wiped off a few tears from his cheeks and walked back to his to grab his stuff. His mind was completely empty and numb. 

The table was full of stuff like his laptop, pens, notebook, papers, badge, all that. He put them to his bag, and checked every single drawer and spot to see if he left something. He didn't, so Jongho turned around, put the bag on his shoulder and began walking down.

He was doing it now. There was no going back.

A person walked in front of him, and they got lower and lower in the building. They both kept quiet. The quiet sound of Jongho's combat boots hitting the ground was enough to fill the tensed air as they got closer.

The person opened many doors to him, holding them open and casting a glance at Jongho. He didn't say anything, so the person kept on walking.

They finally got to the place they wanted to go to.

The person opened the last door to him, and Jongho held his breath. He was probably crazy for doing this, but he didn't care anymore. The hardest part was behind.

Seonghwa was standing in front of the small window, staring out of it. But he turned to look at the newcomers.

Jongho smiled a bit, and leaned against the heavy door of the cell.

"Detective Choi?" Seonghwa asked, surprise in his voice.

Jongho shook his head.  
"Just Jongho. We don't have a lot of time, come on."

Seonghwa was frozen for a moment, before he walked to Jongho with slow steps, his dangerous eyes glinting with something. He came closer until Jongho was trapped between the door and Seonghwa. Their bodies touched, and Jongho's hand reached for Seonghwa's to give it a small touch.

"What are you doing?" Seonghwa asked softly, his breath brushing on Jongho's face. He got a bit closer.

"Probably throwing my life away for these thoughts inside my head, but no can do." Jongho answered, feeling a bit breathless.

Seonghwa studied his face for a while, before he caressed Jongho's cheek with his hand a few times. Jongho almost closed his eyes. 

"Jongho, we need to go." The person spoke up, and Jongho nodded.

"Let's go."

Seonghwa gave Jongho space, and he pressed the cell closed. Seonghwa looked surprised to see the person helping them.

Keonhee smiled.  
"Plot twist, huh?"

Seonghwa chuckled and nodded, holding his hands out so Jongho could cuff him. It was just to make sure that if they got caught, he was cuffed like a criminal should be.

Jongho snorted.  
"Let's go, guys."

The three of them left the hallway full of cells with Keonhee's key. They had to use the emergency exit, because they couldn't exactly walk out of the front door with a serial killer with them.

As they got one door closer, two more persons joined them. Seoho and Youngjo. Seonghwa seemed surprised and a bit confused, but Jongho just smiled.

They walked in silence, the detectives looking around all the time to make sure no one knew about their escape. When a door in a hallway beside them opened, Seonghwa froze. They just stopped and waited, staying quiet.

Geonhak peeked behind the door and joined them, smiling.  
"What's up, guys?"

Jongho smiled to the lawyer and they started walking again. Seonghwa glanced at Jongho with his eyebrows almost touching his hairline and eyes full of confusion.

"I'll explain later." Jongho answered, smiling.

They got to the emergency door, and Seonghwa stopped.

"Walking through this will get the alarms on, won't it?" Seonghwa asked.

Jongho nodded.  
"That's why we have a hacker with us."

Dongju was leaning against the wall behind them, a laptop in his hands.  
"We have ten seconds to get out. Starting in three, two, one..."

Youngjo pushed the door open, and they got out succesfully.

Hwanwoong stood there, welcoming them with a smile that was no longer the innocent one he always wore. He gave Jongho Seonghwa's jacket, which he had stolen earlier today by saying that he wanted to take samples from it.

"Alright. Let's wrap things up succesfully." Hwanwoong said, stepping closer and hugging Jongho.

All ex police workers hugged each other, and Jongho smiled. His eyes were moist again, but with tears of joy.

"What's going on?" Seonghwa asked.

"Let's just say we're really, really good actors." Hwanwoong answered, smirking and making the others laugh.

"We'll see again, right?" Jongho asked, and Keonhee nodded.

"Yes. No doubt of that." Seoho answered.

"Let's keep in touch." Jongho said, before taking Seonghwa's hands, uncuffing him and pulling him towards their escape car. He slid the handcuffs to his pocket. They didn't have any extra time to waste.

"Hop in." 

Seonghwa stayed quiet but got in, pulling on his jacket after Jongho gave it to him. Jongho jumped in too and started the car. The six other males drove away with their own car, and Jongho turned to right.

"Alright, first of all, tell me the adress of your emergency house." Jongho said, smiling at Seonghwa.

"Is this a trap?" Seonghwa asked.

"No. Would I break you out with the help of my friends just to test you or something?" Jongho asked.

Seonghwa stayed silent.

"I quit my job." Jongho simply said.

"You did what?" Seonghwa asked, turning to face him now.

"I quit. With the state my mind is in now, I can't serve people." Jongho answered when Seonghwa wrote the adress to the navigator.

"What's going on inside your beautiful mind?" Seonghwa asked softly.

Jongho smiled. So Seonghwa really cared.

"I don't know, but it scares me." Jongho gripped the steering wheel harder, and as they turned to a highway, he sped up.

Seoghwa's hand landed on top of his thigh, and Jongho turned to glance at him fast. Seonghwa was smiling a bit, and his hand started to caress Jongho's thigh.

"Don't be scared. You don't have to be alone with those thoughts." He spoke up softly, turning to look at Jongho, who was obviously staring at the road.

He nodded carefully. 

"I know it's scary, especially for you, but don't think about them too much." Seonghwa continued.

Jongho nodded again, sighing. They had atleast a six hours long drive in front of them.

"So what's up with those detectives?" Seonghwa asked, probably to distract Jongho from his dark thoughts.

"Keonhee, my partner, Youngjo and Seoho are detectives. Or were. Hwanwoong, the small guy, was a death investigator or autopsy dude, whatever you want to call it. Dongju was our IT person. Gunhak was your lawyer. Hwanwoong approached me yesterday after hearing the gossip from Seoho, and carefully asked what was going on. I explained the situation and told him that I was going to quit." Jongho started.

"Then he asked me whether I was going to break you out, which really surprised me. I hesitated, but answered yes. Turns out they are also fucked up in the head, and worked there only to have an alibi. If you remember all those nameless murders that have somehow ended in the TV, it's them." Jongho explained, still continuing. 

"Then Hwanwoong offered to help me, and of course I said yes. They left the department too, without quitting officially though." Jongho explained.

"Them being fucked up in their heads didn't bother you?" Seonghwa asked. 

"No. I mean, you are fucked up in your head, and I'm on my way there too." Jongho chuckled.

Seonghwa smiled a bit wider.  
"Does that mean you accept me?"

"Would I quit my job, break you out from prison and drive with you to your emergency house if I didn't?"

"No you wouldn't." Seonghwa agreed and turned to look out of the window, his hand still on top of Jongho's thigh.

"Yesterday... in the interrogation. Did you realise that I was talking about you?" Seonghwa asked.

"Yeah. Took me a minute, but I did." Jongho answered.

"I didn't tell anyone of our meeting at my apartment. I was ashamed, because I was a trained detective, but still couldn't shoot a killer. I was also scared of myself. So no one knew about it, yet I made a mistake of asking you that question myself. Jiho wasn't too happy." Jongho continued and laughed a bit.

"Clearly. I don't like him."

Jongho smiled.  
"He's a good man, but strict and sometimes acts on impulse. Kind of an asshole every now and then too." 

Seonghwa chuckled and nodded, pushing his hair back with his hand.

"What about... I don't know if asking this is too personal, but what... what caused the scar on your side?" Seonghwa asked, his voice so, so soft, that Jongho wanted to melt.

But he froze, and his heart sped up. He knew letting it out would be easier, and Seonghwa seemed to really care. Otherwise he would've just been quiet and stared out of the window rather than asking things about Jongho.

"It was a case me, Jiho and Keonhee were working on. We were going undercover. That group of men killed people that just walked towards them, so we had our hands full of work. Then we got a hint of what was happening and drove to the abandoned factory they were holding their killing shows at. They literally kidnapped people there and held a show to other psychos like it was a circus. Without the fun though. They tortured and finally after hours their victims died." Jongho started. This was a part of him only Keonhee and Jiho knew about.

"It was a difficult situation. That time I was properly dressed up in a bulletproof vest and other equipments, so me and Jiho were ordered to get closer." 

Jongho saw it in his head again. He saw everything, and had to take a deep breath before continuing.

"They somehow knew about us, so instead of starting their show and killing one of their victims they slowly drove me and Jiho to a corner. We fought, but it was four against two, so we lost quickly. I got injured by a kick on my knee and couldn't get up anymore. I tried to get connection to Dongju, who was listening to us and helping us along with Youngjo, but my earpiece wasn't working, and neither was Jiho's. We still don't know why or what happened." He continued.

"Well, as they held both of us down, Jiho came up with an idea. Since my pain tolerance was higher, he said that they should kill me first while he was looking for new victims. His acting was so good that even I thought he had gone completely insane. They agreed with that, and Jiho left with one of their men to search for new ones. Well, they left together, and somewhere there Jiho knocked the man out and ran to the nearest house to call 911." 

He swallowed before continuing.

"Well, meanwhile I was thrown around in front of one hundred hungry psychopaths. I won't go into details, but they wanted to take something out, so they used a broken knife to cut my skin open. They only managed to cut that one wound before backup came, but it was nearly enough. As I said, the scar is twenty centimetes long and five centimeres deep." Jongho was almost done.

"At first I of course blamed Jiho. I didn't really voice it out a lot, because I didn't want to hurt him. I knew that if he hadn't done that both of us would've died. That has kept me as a prisoner in my own mind, and I still have nightmares of it. After that case I couldn't solve anything. I was scared of serial killers. But then I found the mars sign on Wooseok's body it was like I woke up again." He ended the story, hands gripping the steering wheel hard.

Seonghwa was quiet for a while before speaking.  
"I'm really sorry to hear that you had to go through something like that."

"Do you feel extatic? Did you enjoy hearing that? Did you imagine it in your head and wish that you had been watching it?" Jongho asked. He wanted to know what Seonghwa was thinking about it.

"I would never want someone I care about get hurt like that. Never. I wish I had been there so I could've killed those psychos for hurting you. Just hearing that story makes me hurt, Jongho." Seonghwa said, and Jongho glanced at him again. His eyes were dark.

Jongho couldn't help the small smile on his face.

"I'm glad to hear that. And you know, I couldn't bear with the feeling that you would be trapped in prison for 40 years or something because of me, so I broke you out." Jongho chuckled a bit.

Seonghwa smiled. It looked so beautiful.

"I'm really going crazy, aren't I?" Jongho asked.

Seonghwa just shook his head.

"Don't think about it now. Let's talk about it tonight after we arrive, okay?"

"Okay."

They continued driving in silence. Only things that happened were the small touches Seonghwa sometimes let him have. It was usually a caress somewhere around his body, but it was enough to make Jongho feel warm on the inside and outside.

After four hours Jongho began to feel tired. He kept his eyes open, but couldn't escape the sleepyness. They had stopped once so Jongho could have went to buy then food, but that didn't seem to be enough.

"Do you mind if we stop for a while? I'm going to fall asleep." Jongo asked Seonghwa, glancing at him.

"Not at all. I can drive too, though." 

Jongho nodded and stopped at the first rest stop he saw before taking off his seatbelt. Seonghwa stopped him after that by grabbing his wrist, and looking him straight to his eyes.

Jongho froze and stared at him, heart beating fast.

Seonghwa's eyes were full of sincerity when he spoke up.  
"Do you trust me?"

Jongho was confused, so he didn't answer immediately. What kind of trust was Seongjwa talking about?

"You're about to let me drive while you sleep. Do you trust me enough to let me do that?" Seonghwa asked again.

Jongho nodded firmly.  
"Yes."

Seonghwa smiled and let go of his wrist. They got out and changed places.

The seat Seonghwa had sat at smelled still faintly like him, and that was enough to have a smile on Jongho's face. He put on the seatbelt and kicked off his shoes before curling up to a ball and resting his head against the window.

He immediately closed his eyes and started evening out his breath. He was so damn sleepy.

Before he could fall asleep, something heavy and warm was placed on top of his body. It was the jacket. He also felt something slightly moist on his forehead, and Jongho blushed. Seonghwa had just kissed him on his forehead.

"Thank you" Jongho whispered, the dreamland coming closer to him all the time.

And finally, he fell asleep when the car sped up again.

—

The thing that woke Jongho up were the hands sliding under his knees and to the small of his back. He registered his body being lifted up, and he wanted to help as much as he could, so he lifted his hands up and wrapped them around the person's neck who was lifting him.

Jongho enjoyed the swaying that was caused by the person walking.

He wouldn't have recognized the person carrying him if it wasn't for the faint trail of that very familiar and good scent.

Warm air hit his skin, but he let his head lean against Seonghwa's chest. However, when he was put down on the couch, he decided that it was enough of sleeping. Jongho opened his eyes, narrowing them in the now very bright space, and saw a very blurry Seonghwa locking the door. He yawned and blinked his eyes for a few times so his eyesight wasn't that blurry anymore.

"Slept well?" Seonghwa asked, turning to look at Jongho.

Jongho smiled and nodded, stretching. He was still a bit asleep, but Seonghwa's looks still mesmerized him.

It was unreal to be alone with Seonghwa like this, without any pressure to act like he hated Seonghwa.

Seonghwa smiled and shook his head a bit.  
"You do know that you are stuck here for a while now, right?" He asked.

Jongho nodded.  
"I do. And I don't mind it."

Seonghwa smiled again and sat down next to him. 

"I even bought hair bleach, because I knew that your roots annoy you too." Jongho said, turning to look at Seonghwa.

"Really?" Seonghwa asked, an amused glint in his eyes.

"Yeah. I like your roots, you're hot with them too, but if you want to, I can bleach your hair." 

Seonghwa smiled and took Jongho's hand before placing a kiss on his knuckles, which made Jongho blush madly.

"I would love to have you bleach my hair."

Jongho smiled.  
"What about... now?"

He was eager to do something normal with Seonghwa. He needed to do something else than talk like they were in an interrogation.

Seonghwa chuckled and nodded, so Jongho stood up and walked to his backpack. He had put some clothes and everything he needed urgently there, as well as boxes of hair dye.

"Do you know how to bleach hair?" Seonghwa asked, and Jongho snorted.

"I do. I'm not a professional though, so be warned." Jongho said, throwing one of the boxes to Seonghwa.

"Well, we'll be the only ones seeing it anyways."

They walked to the bathroom, where Seonghwa put down a chair he had taken from kitchen.

They were in a comfortable silence when Jongho mixed the bleaching powder with the developer. He saw Seonghwa moving in the room but paid no attention it until his eyes saw naked skin. He had to look, and Jongho eyed the tattoos that crawled up the right side of Seonghwa's chest to his neck and shoulder. A dragon was paired up with beautiful flowers, and the same flower pattern continued down his arm as well. The mars sign was blended with a few other starsigns, probably Seonghwa's followers' zodiac signs. His left ribs and arm also had tattoos, but not as much as right one.

A pair of handcuffs that were tattooed to his shoulder looked very new. Had he gotten those while avoiding the police after his escape? 

"The handcuffs are you." 

Jongho almost dropped the cup he was mixing the bleach in and blushed. Seonghwa had caught him staring.

"M-me?" Jongho asked.

"Yeah. You arrested me." Seonghwa said, smirking.

Hell no. Jongho wasn't going to survive at all. Jongho gulped and mixed the bleach more furiously. He quickly excused himself and went to change his button-up to a t-shirt, pulled on gloves and tried to slow down the process of getting ready until he had no excuses anymore. 

He braced himself and finally faced Seonghwa, who was sitting on the chair, looking at Jongho lazily.

Holy fucking shit. It took everything in Jongho to keep himself calm, because Seonghwa sat there, right in front of him, without a shirt. His muscles were on display like they were in a museum.

Jongho had to force himself to take the few steps forward and to actually stand beside Seonghwa.

The taller one said nothing, thank god, so Jongho just began applying the bleaching powder mixed with the developer to Seonghwa's roots after sectioning them. He wouldn't need to bleach the other parts.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but... what are your plans after this?" Seonghwa asked.

To stay with you.

"I don't know. I only thought this far." 

Jongho almost wanted to slap himself for that. That could've been a perfect moment to actually talk about Jongho's thoughts, but he freaked out.

Seonghwa chuckled.  
"Okay. Everything will clear out, don't you worry, little Detective."

"Little Detective? I'm not that small," Jongho complained.

"Yeah, but you're cute, young and little."

"The last time I checked your file, I was only two years younger than you." Jongho reminded him. His cheeks had taken a pretty rose color.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say." Seonghwa answered smugly.

They fell quiet after that, and they began waiting.

After waiting the time needed, Jongho turned the shower on.

"Make a 90 degree bow for me." He teased Seonghwa, who scoffed playfully.

"I can make a full bow too."

God. Seonghwa needed to stop flirting with him before he even started or Jongho was going to go crazy.

He didn't know what was holding him back from telling Seonghwa about his feelings, but something just did.

He rinsed the bleach away and washed Seonghwa's hair with shampoo carefully, making sure to not to make Seonghwa too wet. Because he wasn't sure if he could handle a wet and half naked serial killer.

After that Seonghwa dried his hair with a hairdryer, and Jongho waited, watching him carefully.

"Sexy yellow roots." Seonghwa said, shooting a smirk at Jongho, who just pretended to glare at him.

"It's not done yet!"

Then they began toning the hair. Jongho divided the hair to four before applying the toner one inch away from the scalp and all the way down. Then he also applied to the roots.

"You have bleach on your face."

Jongho startled at that, and looked down at Seonghwa, who had tilted his head all the way back so he was looking up at Jongho.

"What? Where?"

"There." Seonghwa said, pointing at his cheek.

Jongho tried to wipe it away, but he didn't find anything.

"Where?"

Seonghwa furrowed his brows and stood a bit up. 

Seonghwa gave him a quick, very quick peck on his lips.

"Whoops, it wasn't bleach. Something was wrong with my eyes."

Jongho gasped and brought his non-gloved hand to his mouth, pressing it against his lips. Seonghwa had turned his head back down, but Jongho could see the pleased smile on his face from the mirror.

His mind was racing. Had Seonghwa just kissed him? Did that mean Seonghwa actually liked him like that too? He was so going to die.

Jongho stretched, and cursed himself for not changing away from his uniform pants. 

"And now we wait?" Seonghwa asked.

"Yeah. For 30 minutes."

"Thirty? Okay." Seonghwa said, leaning a bit back.

"It doesn't burn, does it?" Jongho asked, and got a shook of Seonghwa's head as the answer.

They were silent while Jongho washed the cups he had used and threw things away. When he came back, Seonghwa was looking at him very closely.

"Your t-shirt is very wet." 

Jongho scoffed playfully and looked at it.  
"Someone has to take the damage, you know? I tried to avoid making you too wet," Jongho said, and laughed when Seonghwa poked him to his ribs.

After thirty minutes, Jongho took the showerhead again.

"Okay, this time just lean back while sitting on the chair. Might be better that way." He said, turning on the shower.

Seonghwa complied and Jongho began washing the bleach away, carefully combing his fingers through Seonghwa's hair.

He should've known the smug smirk on Seonghwa's lips didn't mean any good. 

Seonghwa grabbed the handle and turned it around quickly, the water now coming at Jongho with full force. He let out a very manly high pitched scream, which only made Seonghwa laugh.

"Dumbass!" Jongho exclaimed without any venom in his voice, feeling the shirt glue to his body now, as well as his pants.

Seonghwa had the audacity to laugh harder.

"We're not done yet, Mr. Park, so please behave." Jongho said, reaching for the conditioner.

"Uh-huh, now you're back with Mr. Park?" Seonghwa asked, lifting his left brow.

Jongho just stuck his tongue out and took a good amount of conditioner to his hand. Seonghwa could've done that himself, but Jongho wanted to do it. It was kind of intimate.

"That's very rude, Detective Choi. I'll show you what happens to rude people." Seonghwa said and before Jongho could react, he grabbed Jongho's waist and pulled, making Jongho fall on his lap.

It was safe to say that a red colour painted Jongho's cheeks when he stared Seonghwa back, straight to his eyes. There wasn't too much space between their faces.

Jongho was panicking on the inside. He was sitting on Seonghwa's lap.

"Didn't you have to do something with that conftioner or are just hanging out with it?" Seonghwa asked after a silent pause, a teasing smirk on his face.

Fuck Seonghwa. Fucking fuck.

Jongho glared at him but carefully began working the conditioner into Seonghwa's hair. The strong but not too tight grip of Seonghwa's hands on Jongho's waist felt way too natural and good. It was almost dangerous how Jongho enjoyed sitting on Seonghwa's lap.

Well, it was dangerous. Seonghwa was a serial killer Jongho had just broken out of prison. 

"You're very good with your hands, aren't you?" Seonghwa teased.

"Stop with the sex jokes already!" Jongho complained and wanted to stand up, but Seonghwa held him down. 

"Nope. Do we have to wait again?"

"Have you ever used conditioner? Three minutes." Jongho said and placed his hands on Seonghwa's shoulders, because if he put them anywhere else it would feel and look akward.

"You wound me, Jongho." Seonghwa said dramatically, the smug smirk staying on his lips.

Jongho rolled his eyes, but couldn't hold back the smile growing on his lips. He enjoyed this Seonghwa even more than the one he had met while still being a working detective.

"Alright. I think it's done now." Jongho said and grabbed the showerhead, rinsing away the conditioner.

He couldn't help but turn it too much downwards as a revenge on Seonghwa. He watched in delight while the water ran down Seonghwa's face and upper body. 

Seonghwa was quiet and just let him do his thing until his hand curled on top of Jongho's, and as much as Jongho tried to resist, Seonghwa's strong hands turned the shower towards him and Jongho started squirming when the water hit him.

It made him completely drenched, all the way from his hair sticking to his forehead to his clothes glueing to his body like another skin.

"Seonghwa!" Jongho complained again, but he knew he could do nothing. Seonghwa was drenched too.

"What? I just copied what you did to me," Seonghwa said innocently and let Jongho stand up (still legs on the both sides of Seonghwa's thighs) and put the showerhead back to its place, turning on the even bigger showerhead that was in the roof.

Jongho just sat back down and let the water rain on them like on a beautiful summer night. Seonghwa definitely seemed a bit taken back, he hadn't probabably expected Jongho to sit back down.

Seonghwa leaned forward so their foreheads touched, which made Jongho hold his breath for a second. Seonghwa's hands were back at his waist again, securing Jongho's position there.

"You're driving me crazy, Jongho." Seonghwa said, and Jongho just watched as the water ran down his face. Some of the drops clinged to his dark and long eyelashes until they gave out, and the drop of water ran down.

"I'm driving you crazy? It's you who is messing with my brain." Jongho answered, building bravery and finally locking his hands behind Seonghwa's neck.

Seonghwa smiled.  
"It's both of us then. But you know, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Jongho shook his head. Falling in love definitely wasn't that bad if this was what kind of person Seonghwa really was. Jongho didn't see any traces of the crazy man he had seen while interrogating him. But even as the crazy version of himself Seonghwa had taken Jongho's heart.

Their faces were super close to each other, so Jongho swallowed down the nervousment and shifted himself even closer.

"Are you going to kiss me?" Seonghwa asked quietly.

"Yeah." Jongho breathed out, his stomach making a flip and almost making him want to double over from the feeling of it.

"No you're not. Because I'm kissing you first."

Jongho didn't even get one second to register what Seonghwa had said when the soft lips got attached to his.

Jongho closed his eyes immediately, wanting to feel more than see. He pressed himself closer again until his chest was pressed against Seonghwa's, as well as his groin against Seonghwa's lower abdomen as close as possible. He just wanted to be near Seonghwa. 

The kiss deepened a bit, and Jongho felt the fireworks in his stomach. Seonghwa's lips slid against his perfectly every time they got a bit separated.

The kiss just confirmed that Jongho had done the right decision. He had done the right thing to his mind and heart, not to South Korea or their laws, but he couldn't care less about laws now. As freaky as it had been to break Seonghwa out, now he was sure of his really, really strong feelings towards the said killer.

Seonghwa's tongue asked for entrance to his mouth, and Jongho was delighted to give it. He tightened his hold behind Seonghwa's neck and sucked the air between them off, so their lips smashed together again. 

It probably looked like they were eating each other's faces, but no one was there to see it. Jongho bit Seonghwa's tongue playfully, which made the older growl and stand up, Jongho still on his lap. Seonghwa pushed him aggressively against the wall of the shower.

Jongho let out a small sound at that, liking the feeling of getting handled like that.

The shower still rained on them, making kissing even harder because of the water going to their mouth and nose, but the lack of air was what made them stop.

They were both out of breath and stared at each other, chests heaving and mouths open. 

"I have always thought that the feeling of wanting sex is overglorified, but now I can't think of anything else than you and your sweet moans." Seonghwa whispered, and Jongho bit his lower lip.

"Want to hear them in real life too?" He whispered back.

Jongho grabbed the helm of his shirt and pulled the wet piece of cloth off. 

Seonghwa stared down quietly and stayed completely still for a while, but then he gently let Jongho down before he crouched a bit and pressed his lips on Jongho's scar. 

Jongho pressed his eyes closed. His mind was racing with different feelings when Seonghwa kept on kissing the long and ugly scar. As scary as it was, it also somehow freed Jongho. Now Seonghwa had seen it, and didn't find it ugly. He now knew the spot Jongho hated in himself the most, so he didn't have to act like it wasn't there.

Seonghwa started licking the skin before he closed his lips tightly around it and sucked, making Jongho inhale a shaky breath. It felt and looked lewd, but when Seonghwa moved upper to his chest, Jongho couldn't help but get lost in the sensation. Seonghwa's lips closed around his nipple and he sucked, Jongho letting out a sigh. Seonghwa definitely knew how to use his mouth.

He played with Jongho's nipple with his tongue, and the smaller squeezed his hands to tight fists. Seonghwa moved upper again, to Jongho's neck, where he sucked a beautiful red mark to decorate the delicate, pale skin of Jongho's.

Then Seonghwa came back to kiss Jongho tenderly, probably to make sure Jongho was okay after someone being so intimate with his scar.

"It's good." Jongho whispered to the kiss, and enjoyed Seonghwa's hand that caressed his cheek.

"It's a mark that makes you you, Jongho. It's not ugly, it's beautiful. The person who did it is ugly, but you're so full of beauty that even your scars are beautiful."

Jongho pressed his forehead against Seonghwa's and nodded, massaging his nose against Seonghwa's. It was a weird thing to do but somehow it made him feel so much better.

Seonghwa was all Jongho had ever wanted. He was kind and loving like this moment showed, but also strict and protective, probably a bit possessive too. But more than that, he knew how to handle Jongho, even if they hadn't met that many times. It was a bit scary how perfectly everything had gone and how they fit together, but maybe they had been together in their previous life too.

Seonghwa's fingers touched the zipper of Jongho's pants and he looked at Jongho for permission, which he gave. As Seonghwa pulled the zipper down, his other hand was sneaky. The hand went to Jongho's pocket, where he had, fortunately or unfortunately, forgotten Seonghwa's handcuffs.

"What are these? Hmm?" Seonghwa asked, a smirk on his lips.

"Uhm... Whoops?" Jongho said, looking Seonghwa to his dark eyes.

"Whoops?" Seonghwa repeated, lifting his left brow.

"Yeah."

"I think we're going to have fun with these. This time it's you who gets cuffed up, not me." Seonghwa said, eyeing the handcuffs with a smirk.

Jongho blushed, and shivers ran down his spine.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Seongha asked, pressing himself even closer to Jongho.

"Yes." Jongho said shamelessly.

Shower sex and bondage using cuffs weren't maybe the best combination, but who could stop them? Why not use the cuffs now that they had with them?

Seonghwa smirked and opened the cuffs, eyeing them and touching the metallic object. He let his tongue run on the shiny cuffs before grabbing Jongho's hands with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Behind your back or infront of you?" He asked.

"Behind." Jongho answered, biting his lip.

"I agree with you." Seonghwa agreed and spun Jongho around.

Jongho liked the idea being cuffed, but decided to make things a bit harder to Seonghwa and resisted.

"Hmm? Are you playing hard to get?"

Jongho just ignored him with a smirk and kept his hands as far away from each other as was possible. It didn't seem to be enough though, because Seonghwa pulled his hands together and soon Jongho was cuffed.

He had been cuffed before. Not because of doing something illegal, but in the police academy they had been cuffed many times. Just to know how it felt like. And of course all the training lessons.

But this was different. Definitely. Jongho was cuffed by a serial killer he had fallen helplessly for, and he was about to get fucked.

He was restrained and completely on Seonghwa's mercy. It was hot, and only the thought of it made him feel excited. Now that his hands were cuffed behind him, he could be thrown around like a ragdoll, and he could do nothing about it. Jongho knew how to stand up with cuffs and stuff, he also knew how to get his thumb discolated. With that painful trick he could get one of the handcuffs off.

That wasn't the case now, though. He didn't want to get the cuffs off.

"Your hands look so pretty here, cuffed behind your back." Jongho heard Seonghwa say.

"Hmm? They do?" Jongho asked.

"Yeah." 

Jongho felt hands grab his asscheeks and massage them pretty aggressively, pulling them apart. Fingers slapped his asscheek and Jongho let out a small mewl at the unexpected action. The fingers traveled down his cheeks and they were pulled apart once more, the fingers creeping closer to his hole now.

Jongho tried to relax his stiff leg and ass muscles, but he was so excited and nervous that he couldn't.

"How many fingers do you think you need?" Seonghwa asked, before continuing.  
"Mind bending over for me?"

"Remember that I am in fact cuffed, so..." Jongho reminded Seonghwa, earning a laugh from the said man.

"But you like rough handling, don't you?" 

"I don't know what counts as rough handling to you, but if you push me forward now and I fall flat on my face I'm bringing you back to the police department." Jongho threatened Seonghwa, who was full on howling at this point.

"I won't push you, don't you trust me at all?" 

Seonghwa came to stand in front of him and gently took a hold of Jongho's shoulders.

"Now squat and kneel. I'll hold your upper body." Seonghwa said, and Jongho obeyed.

Seonghwa gently put him down to the floor once Jongho was kneeling. What held Jongho up was his right cheek and right shoulder if he tilted himself. 

It was a bit painful position, but nothing Jongho couldn't handle for a while. He knew Seonghwa would want to fuck him while standing, so all he had to do now was to get prepared.

"I don't have lube here... atleast I don't think I have." Seonghwa said.

"Spit is good enough." Jongho answered, liking the rain of the shower against his back.

Seonghwa spat on his hands, judging from the sound, and soon Jongho felt fingers massage the area beside his hole. Seonghwa teased him by sliding his finger to the hole and pressing it just barely in before pulling out. Then he repeated the same, this time pushing it more inside, which earned an unpleased sound from Jongho.

The finger finally slid inside completely, and Jongho just took it. One finger was nothing, he could and had taken dick in his ass before, so he knew what to expect. But preparing was an important thing to do.

"Hmm? No sounds, huh? You're used to having something in, aren't you?" Seonghwa asked, his left hand squeezing Jongho's left asscheek.

"Yeah. I have taken some big stuff in befo- ahh!" Jongho started and ended it with a moan when Seonghwa slid second finger in while giving his asscheek a pretty powerful slap.

Seonghwa didn't answer but began twisting his fingers and carefully opening them, step by step until he was scissoring Jongho. Two fingers burned a bit, not too much, but it was still there. The water of the shower was now a pretty good temperature to him, because his body started to heat up. Jongho's cock was hard, and Jongho wanted to stroke himself, but he was cuffed up.

He would lie if he said the position was comfortable. It wasn't, but it was rough one, so it really suited what he wanted to feel. Jongho wasn't a pillow princess.

Jongho moaned out loud when Seonghwa's fingers brushed his prostate and almost began whining when he pulled back, only to feel the older one push three fingers inside carefully. It burned a lot more, uncomfortably too, but Jongho had expected it to do so. 

Seonghwa fingered him open carefully, making sure Jongho could take what was coming for him, before he pulled the fingers out.

"I think you're ready."

Jongho agreed. He needed something bigger inside him, and his cock ached.

Jongho felt his upper body being lifted up, and he stood up straight, only to be pushed against the shower wall with his cheek squishing again.

Seonghwa's hands traveled down his body and stopped at his waist where he yanked it a bit back to make Jongho bend a little. It was silent for a while when Seonghwa positioned himself. The position definitely required good core strength and abs, but thankfully Jongho had them.

Jongho felt the burn as Seonghwa pushed his tip a bit in, and he prepared himself to take the rest of it just like that, but instead Seonghwa continued with this teasing policy of his and pulled it out. He pushed the tip in, pulled it out, pushed it in, pulled out.

"Seonghwa!" Jongho whined, a moan almost making its way out. He was getting frustrated, because all he wanted was that cock inside his ass.

Seonghwa didn't answer, but his actions did. He slammed his hips forward and buried half of his length inside Jongho's hole, making the one receiving it scream out a moan. 

Seonghwa wasn't cruel, atleast not towards Jongho, and pushed the rest in slowly and before letting the smaller get used to the cock inside him. It was good because Jongho hadn't remembered getting fucked burned like this.

Seonghwa finally began pulling out and pushing in, Jongho's hole resisting it a lot at first, but soon it became easier. But because Jongho didn't have hands to hold himself back with, his cheek got squished against the wall if he didn't hold his ass back well.

Jongho moaned at the feeling of being that full. Seonghwa's left hand came to rest against the wall on left side of Jongho's face, his right hand gripping Jongho's waist tightly.

Jongho moaned and began only feeling the pleasure now. Seonghwa picked up his pace and pushed in deeper, the tip of his cock coming almost completely out every time he pushed in after pulling out.

Jongho squeezed his hands to tight fists behind his back after arching it and pushing his ass back to get more. He hadn't gotten fucked in a while, so everything came crushing down just like this. He wanted more, harder and faster.

"Seonghwa..." Jongho moaned out, his eyes rolling back when Seonghwa's cock touched his prostate once. It was the magic button, and Jongho began feeling warmth down there.

His cock was angry red and painfully hard, just waiting for release.

"Jongho," Seonghwa groaned, his grip on Jongho's waist tightening to a lot more bruising one.

The shower that was still on definitely made things a bit different. The sound of skin slapping against skin was a lot more wet and lewd. Their bodies were shiny, and their hairs were sticking on their foreheads.

"Fuck..." Jongho moaned when Seonghwa rammed inside him fast and hard, just like he wanted it.

His lower abdomen felt uncomfortable and Jongho almost squirmed by the feeling of it, but he just bit his lip and pressed himself closer to the wall.

"Hwa... Fuck, I'm- I'm coming." Jongho mewled out, his eyes moistening a bit while he panted for air.

Jongho let out a gasp when he cummed, his cock shooting white cum to the wall in front of him. Seonghwa behind him growled, and thrusted in faster, squeezing Jongho's waist hard.

Seonghwa breathed out loudly and snapped his hips forward, cumming inside Jongho with a low groan.

They were both out of breath but Seonghwa just pulled out and opened the cuffs, sliding Jongho's left hand out of the cuff before gently but firmly spinning Jongho around and locking his hands in front of his body this time.

Jongho stared at Seonghwa through his bangs, his mouth a bit open as he inhaled in deeply to calm down his erratic breathing. Seonghwa stared him back and lifted a hand to brush the wet hair of Jongho's back before he lifted Jongho up and pushed him against the cold wall again.

Jongho threw his cuffed hands behind Seonghwa's head and locked his fingers there, staring Seonghwa straight to his eyes while the man slowly put Jongho down.

It was a lewd sight and feeling. 

Jongho felt the way the tip of Seonghwa's big cock pushed in, flexing his hole to take it completely. As Seonghwa put him down centimeter by centimeter, Jongho's ass just swallowed the entire thing, making Jongho exhale shakily and close his eyes. 

Seonghwa distanced Jongho from the wall again by taking a step back before he started lifting Jongho up and down. Jongho moaned and let his head rest on Seonghwa's shoulder while the taller man groaned lowly. The groans sent shivers down Jongho's spine, and he couldn't help but clench around Seonghwa a bit.

Neither of them knew what was sweat and what was water. If Jongho started crying from pleasure, the tears would disappear too.

"Fuck... Ah, damn," Jongho moaned loudly, biting down on Seonghwa's shoulder.

That definitely caught the killer off-guard and he gasped, accidentally letting Jongho slide as down as it was even possible, which made Jongho moan loudly again.

Seonghwa was tired, of course he was.

"Hwa... the floor..." Jongho murmured against the shoulder before running his tongue on the mark of his teeth. He sucked a mark there.

Seonghwa lifted him off and pressed him against the floor aggressively, pushing in for the third time.

Jongho saw stars for a moment, and he couldn't even get a word out of his mouth. Seonghwa slid a hand to Jongho's hair and pulled it, making Jongho lift his head up. Seonghwa kissed Jongho while slamming harder and faster in.

The kiss was absolutely filthy.

Neither of them cared what it looked like or what they were doing. Saliva changed its owner, teeth scratched together and tongues explored every single spot in their mouths, no matter how nasty some people would think it was. All Jongho felt was pleasure from the cock sliding in and out as well as the hungry kiss and the hand in his hair, pulling it.

"Seonghwa!" Jongho moaned when Seonghwa changed the route he pushed in, his cock curving just the right way inside Jongho and massaging his sweet spot.

Because Seonghwa was so close to him, Jongho lifted his hips a bit up selfishly to make his cock rub against Seonghwa's body.

He succeeded in that and finally the feeling of being high off pleasure and being tortured at the same time kicked in. It felt so good that it felt bad.

Tears escaped his eyes as Seonghwa bit down on the skin of Jongho's neck, Jongho letting out a loud moan.

"I'm coming, I'm coming I'm coming Seonghwa please help!" Jongho begged, a sob almost escaping his mouth while his nails sank to the skin of his palms.

Seonghwa just fucked him harder and more mercilessly, making Jongho an absolute mess. Spit ran down his chin, tears down his cheeks and water down his body. It was hard to breathe, not just because of the sex but also the water falling straight to his face and nose.

Seonghwa growled and Jongho felt hot, sticky cum pump inside him. Seonghwa pushed in for the last time, making sure the sperm would stay inside Jongho for a while before wrapping a hand around Jongho's cock.

"Please please please..." Jongho sobbed, and Seonghwa just wrapped his hand around Jongho's his cock. He stroked it a few times before pressing his thumb to its tip, and Jongho cummed again, white flashing in his eyes.

They both fell quiet and tried to catch their breaths. Seonghwa pulled out and held himself on top of Jongho so the water wouldn't distract him from breathing.

Jongho stared Seonghwa to his eyes and panted. Neither of them said anything, and Seonghwa just leaned down to press a tender and gentle kiss on Jongho's lips.

Jongho closed his eyes and smiled.

"You're fucking unbelievable, Jongho." Seonghwa whispered and carefully pulled Jongho up and to his lap.

"Hmm?" Jongho asked, putting his cuffed hands behind Seonghwa's neck again.

"I can't even believe there's people like you on this earth. Who would've thought a detective fell for a serial killer so badly that he quit his job and broke the killer free from prison?"

"Certainly no one, but yet here I am." Jongho said, smiling.

Seonghwa smiled back and pecked Jongho's nose.

The water that now fell on them was a bit cold, but it didn't matter.

"Are you still scared?" Seonghwa asked.

Jongho nodded. He was terrified.

"Mind sharing a piece of it?" 

Jongho shook his head.  
"I only talk about it when we're cuddling."

Seonghwa smiled.  
"We can do that."

It took a while for them to wash away everything and for Jongho to some of the sperm inside him, but soon Jongho and Seonghwa were laying on the bed in Seonghwa's room.

Jongho rolled closer to Seonghwa.

"I don't know when it started, but my mom had warned me about becoming a detective. She said that after seeing dead bodies and murder for long enough, I would change too. I did. I became scared after realising that I had indeed normalized seeing death everywhere. After some time I began having violent thoughts." Jongho explained, enjoying Seonghwa's hand that ran up and down his back.

"Then after meeting you I became scared of my feelings. I did have them, and they messed up with my head, because no sane person would fall for a killer. Turned out I wasn't a sane person."

"A heart doesn't choose who he falls for." Seonghwa reminded him, pressing a peck on Jongho's forehead.

Jongho nodded. It didn't.

"After going forward with the feelings I was scared of getting caught, like I did. When Jiho signed my case with someone else I started feeling like I had nothing there anymore, so I quit. I couldn't protect citizens with the things going on in my mind. The most logical thing to do was to break you out, because jesus fucking christ I love you. I don't know how many weeks or months has it been, but enough for my heart to develop deep feelings like that." He finished off, looking at Seonghwa.

"I understand you. But you should know that..." Seonghwa started, taking a hold of Jongho's chin and tilting it a bit up before continuing;

"Now that I'm here with you, you don't have anything to fear for. You have a psychopath boyfriend that will get rid of anything you fear."

Jongho smiled.  
"Of anything?"

"Of anything."

Jongho nodded and snuggled even closer.  
"Thank you."

"No need to thank me. Oh and, I love you too."

Jongho smiled. He smiled so hard that his cheeks hurt.

—  
Epilogue

Jongho stepped out of the taxi and thanked the driver.

It had been 6 months since the breaking-out-Seonghwa-night and they were in the Japan now.

The whole South Korea had went absolutely crazy and feral after Seonghwa's disappearance. They had finally published news and a picture of Seonghwa as well as of Jongho, so they had had to flee quickly. Seonghwa's followers — Hongjoong, Yeosang, Yunho, San, Wooyoung and Mingi, like Jongho had learned — had worked quickly and they had had flewn pretty quickly. Jongho didn't know how they did it, but somehow the 8 of them left South Korea just like that.

Jongho had his own cute nickname now, and just like he had wondered, he was Venus. Seonghwa had insisted on naming Jongho that, because apparently, Jongho wasn't his follower but other half. So he was the Venus, whether liked it or not. Jongho didn't mind it.

Jongho sat down on the couch of their apartment, and opened the TV just on time when the news announcer changed a sheet and Jongho's and Seonghwa's faces appeared to decorate the screen.

The pictures were fairly new. Seonghwa had his second mugshot, which was taken after the second arrest, so despite having very dark brown, almost black roots spiking out of his otherwise blonde hair, he managed to look absolutely gorgeous. His full lips were curled up in a signature smirk, and his eyes, god, his eyes glinted dangerously and knowingly. 

Jongho's picture was his latest update to his police register. It was a good picture, he looked natural and determined, but still kind and welcoming.

"The serial killer Mars is still missing. Park Seonghwa, going by the nickname Mars, escaped on october 21st. On the same day Detective Choi Jongho, who was the one leading this case, quit his job and disappeared." The announcer started, and Jongho heard the front door of their apartment open.

"On the same day, six other workers for the SPD also went missing. Today, Chief of the Seoul Police Department, Woo Jiho, finally held a public press conference."

Jongho leaned closer to the TV to pay more attention.

He saw Jiho walk in to the room, and stop behind the mic. Jongho now understood why Jiho called the press hungry hyenas. The cameras began taking pictures of him with shiny flashes, and the first questions were yelled at him before Jiho could even open his mouth.

"Good evening." He greeted, and the news announcer came back to the screen.

"The SPD is suspecting a kidnapping. It is possible that Detective Choi was forced to help Park Seonghwa out before being forcefully taken. The last time the Detective was seen was in a gas station a few hours away from Seoul, and the CCTV material shows Detective Choi buying food while glancing behind him nervously."

Jongho snorted. This was really what SPD had came up with? Pathetic. 

The screen changed back to Jiho, who was now reading his speech.

"We are suspecting that Detective Choi was forced to quit and help Park Seonghwa out. He acted very strangely on the day before, so we are really looking into this matter properly. We want our good friend and colleague back."

That broke the reporters. They began shouting questions and statements at him without even letting Jiho breathe, and Jongho saw how his face paled. Jiho hated situations like these.

But one question was yelled out louder than the others.

"Is there a reason to suspect that Detective Choi wasn't forced to help?"

"What do you mean?" Jiho asked back.

"I asked, if there's a possibility that Detective Choi wanted to get Park Seonghwa out. If he was the man behind this."

Jongho could see Jiho's eyes darkening. Jongho heard steps coming closer to him.

"No, there is no such possibility. Detective Choi would never do that."

"An anonymous source tipped us that the two of them had been flirting together when having an interrogation. What about that? Don't you think it's possible that Detective Choi fell for him?" The same reporter continued.

Jongho lifted his brows up and turned to look at Seonghwa, who was now standing beside him.

"What did you tell them?" Jongho asked, and Seonghwa just laughed.

"Nothing much. Just told them how I am a police officer and saw us flirting,"

"You really like to play with the press, you dumbass." Jongho sighed, but couldn't keep the smile away from his lips.

Seonghwa laughed and sat down right next to Jongho, allowing the former detective to curl up against his side. Jongho focused on Jiho again.

"I don't know who tipped you that bullshit, but that flirting was one-sided. Park Seonghwa, as well as many criminals use that tactic to make the interrogater frustrated. He tried to win Detective Choi, so he used flirting. Detective Choi did not answer to it at all, and continued professionally. The end of this press conference. Thank you for coming."

As Jiho turned around and began walking away, the flashes became brighter again, and the reporters yelled more. Jongho's face was pulled away from the screen by Seonghwa's fingers on his chin.

"Continued professionally, he said." Seonghwa said and stared Jongho to his eyes, who smiled.

"Completely professionally." Jongho agreed with him.

"I don't think he's that professional," 

"You don't?" Jongho asked, a smug smile on his face.

"Yeah. I don't think he should be sucking off Mars' face." Seonghwa teased, and Jongho smirked back.

"You don't?"

Seonghwa brought their faces closer, and Jongho felt his breath on his lips.

"Does this look professional for you?" Seonghwa asked before kissing him slowly.

Jongho chuckled but answered for a few seconds.

"Maybe it doesn't look, but it feels professional," He spoke against Seonghwa's lips, who chuckled and pulled Jongho closer,

"Should I tip the reporters more? Maybe send some sextapes?" He asked.

Jongho rolled his eyes but smiled more.  
"I think we should give them something. Poor reporters need more money. Plus, I would like to be known as your boyfriend instead of a person you kidnapped."

Seonghwa smiled.  
"Anything for you, baby. But for now, we should keep things professional."

Jongho snorted but didn't stop Seonghwa, who began sucking his neck, probably wanting to leave new marks.

"Yeah. Let's keep things professional." Jongho answered and pushed Seonghwa to lay on the couch on his back before climbing on top of him and kissing him slowly but lustfully.

"I love you so much, Hwa."

"I love you more than there's stars on the sky, Jongho."

On the same evening, the news broke again. They had finally gotten CCTV material of Jongho and Seonghwa, which they had purposely given them.

Jongho chuckled, leaning against the chair better. He remembered the chaotic grocery shopping trip they had done.

It had went pretty well, no one had really paid that much attention to them, but when Seonghwa wanted to pay, the cashier froze.

Jongho was busy packing their food, but as nothing happened, he looked up. The cashier was staring at Seonghwa with wide eyes.

Seonghwa just stared back lazily, lifting his brow.  
"How much is it?" He asked.

"E-eighteen thousand Yens, s-sir."

Seonghwa hummed and pushed his card in, putting his code before looking up again. The cashier was as pale as a bedsheet, and Jongho watched how Seonghwa pretended to pull something out of his pocket just to scare the cashier. 

Jongho rolled his eyes, a smile on his face. The cashier flinched violently, probably thinking Seonghwa would shoot him, but he just gave the cashier a heart, which made Jongho burst in loud laughter. The cashier was still frozen and stared at Seonghwa.

"You should take a picture and it lasts longer," Jongho said as he walked to stand beside Seonghwa.

The cashier hesitated, glancing at Jongho.

"I'm serious. Take a picture." Jongho said, smiling.

Seonghwa nodded, and the cashier grabbed his phone with trembling hands before lifting it up. Jongho turned to give a kiss to Seonghwa, the older also giving a peace sign, which made Jongho laugh again.

When the cashier lowered the phone, Seonghwa winked and grabbed one of the bags.

"Enjoy your next 24 hours," He said smugly, which made the poor cashier flinch again.

Jongho slapped Seonghwa's shoulder.

"Fuck! What?" Seonghwa asked, complaining.

"He meant have a good day." Jongho corrected, flashing the scared cashier a smile.

"No I didn't," Seonghwa muttered.

"YES HE DID." Jongho said loudly, pulling Seonghwa with him.

Seonghwa began laughing, and it didn't take long until Jongho was full on wheezing for air.

"Enjoy your next 24 hours? You idiot," Jongho laughed.

"I had to! He looked so scared!" Seonghwa laughed.

The police sirens were way too slow, and a few hours later, Jongho and Seonghwa were in an airplane on their way to China. 

"The SPD has officially given an arrest warrant of both, former detective Choi Jongho and serial killer Park Seonghwa. The CCTV material and the picture taken of the two of them kissing by a cashier in Japan confirms that Detective Choi Jongho played a role in breaking Park Seonghwa out. If we have any witnesses, please contact police immediately." 

Jongho and Seonghwa just laughed and turned the TV off. They were a few hours away from China.

Jongho sat on Seonghwa's lap before pushing the older male down on the airplane's bed and kissing him.

"You were right. Your department sucks." Seonghwa said while kissing.

"I know. They won't find us even if we give them our coordinates."

And they never did. Jongho and Seonghwa were declared missing and wanted for years, but no one ever found them.

Venus and Mars were so different yet so similar. A detective and a serial killer, very different but also so same.

Jongho and Seonghwa, Venus and Mars.

They were together all the way to the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! And omg, thank you for reading!
> 
> It’s done. A good lil detective is done. What? I can’t believe it. I’m so sad to end this story. Seriously. I have never been this sad, but this story is my favorite one, so...🥺🥺
> 
> How did you like it? Was the ending anything you could predict?
> 
> Writing this story was the easiest process so far. It only took me six days to write this last summer, so y’all can see how much i enjoyed it!
> 
> I kept on thinking about this concept yesterday. Serial killer x detective is my fav concept and i love it way too much, so i thought that would i ever make another jonghwa with it? I always only do one story of one concept since it’s easier to make plots and they’re not similar to each other. But thinking about it... i really want to do another one. Not yet, maybe after 2 to 3 other jonghwas, but maybe. I’m not sure but... yeah. Would you guys be up for that? 
> 
> I always tell y’all the next concept when the story ends, so, here it is! Next time we’re taking a timejump to Joseon dynasty, (hwarang time) and we have a love story there!
> 
> Finishing it can take atleast two to three weeks. My school is very, very hard right now so i barely have any free time🥺 but i’ll try my best to finish it as quickly as possible. I have four chapters ready!
> 
> Thank you SO MUCH for reading. I hope you enjoyed this story and continue enjoying my next ones as well! I love you all!
> 
> Ps. Sorry for the lame poem in the end💀
> 
> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/cloudyjjongie?s=21) and [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/Cloudyjongho)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and welcome!
> 
> A good lil detective will be uploaded every saturday.❤️
> 
> Ta-da! This is the story i have been hyping up for a long time. How did you guys like the first chapter? I loved writing this. It was so much fun. I love the detective and serial killer setting too, like, what’s not to love about it?
> 
> I hope you are all healthy and safe.
> 
> Come talk to me on twitter!  
> my twitter
> 
> Or send me messages anonymously on cc!  
> [my curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/ramenofwonho)


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